I know no one cares what I think on this topic, but I don't believe COVID-19 leaked from the lab in Wuhan.
The virus was discovered in Wuhan, because there was a great lab there. That doesn't mean the virus started there.
I have met several people who believe they had COVID-19 in the USA in the fall of 2019 -- and their doctors also think so.
There was an early severe outbreak in Iran. The Iranians have been very secretive about their outbreak -- unlike the Chinese who have been relatively forthcoming -- and even quickly sequenced the virus and immediately published their work to benefit other scientists -- which may well have sped our development of vaccines. There was frequent commerce between IRan an Wuhan. The virus could easily have originated in Iran.
The COVID-19 virus was supposedly distinguished by a unique spike protein -- but scientists have now discovered a virus in a bat cave in Cambodia that has that same supposedly unique spike protein.
In Africa, there have been a lot of COVID-19 cases, but public health officials in some countries claim that there have not been significant numbers of people getting respiratory distress. This seems to indicate that Africans already have some immunity to the virus.
The Wuhan lab felt that the virus came from a wild animal market. That market very likely had animals from Africa, which might have been carrying the virus. The virus has been recognized as being "promiscuous," in other words passing between species easily.
There is, therefore, substantial evidence that, by the time the virus was detected in the famous Wuhan lab, COVID-19 was already widespread throughout the world.
The virus spread substantially in Wuhan, because it's a large, very crowded city. China also has a fairly well developed infrastructure, so disease outbreaks are more noticeable. The spread of the virus in Wuhan is not proof that the virus originated there.
Moreover, a similar viral outbreak was documented in the late 19th century, showing that this kind of viral outbreak happened naturally before there was any kind of genetic engineering.
The recurrence of the lab leak theory stems from anti-Chinese sentiment -- both racial and political. It's not based on real evidence.
#COVID_19 #Wuhan #LabLeak #LabLeakTheory #SARS_COV2
