Did Coronavirus Come from a Lab

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As soon as COVID-19 entered the global spotlight in January there was speculation that the first outbreak in Wuhan started due to the accidental release of the virus from a lab. Conspiracy theories started circulating immediately due to the mere miles separating the Wuhan seafood market, the widely accepted origin of the virus, and a high-level infectious disease lab. This theory is of course perpetrated by the secrecy and moral ambiguity of the Chinese government. At first, theorists even claimed the virus was engineered as a bio-weapon before escaping containment. That has since been disproved by scientists in no way connected to the Chinese government tracing the genetics of the virus back to animals. However, despite what Beijing wants, there is still reasonable suspicion the virus leaked out of the lab.

The foundation on which these allegations are built is the Wuhan Institute of virology located only 8 miles from the Huanan Seafood Market. This institute has existed since 1956 but was not equipped with a BSL-4 lab until one was installed in 2015. Bio-safety level 4, or BSL-4, labs are designated to handle the most dangerous pathogens on the planet and there are only 54 of them globally (2 of which are in Atlanta). This lab was in no way meant to hide a bioweapon as it received funding from the US and often collaborated with US research institutions.  Due to the 2003 Sars epidemic in China, the lab was conducting a publicly documented study on bats known to carry a coronavirus.

The most concrete evidence that suggests the virus could have come out of this lab is two diplomatic cables (confidential messages) from US scientific diplomats who visited the lab in 2018. These messages warned of “safety and management” concerns within the lab. The most disturbing warning was a diplomat specifically suggesting the lab’s coronavirus bat studies could lead to another “SARS-like” pandemic. Unfortunately, These messages are not available to the public and were only seen by the Washington Post writer who first covered this issue in depth. With no information about the specifics of these safety concerns, it’s much harder to definitively say what was happening inside the WIV.

Many American politicians have been using this theory as a way to deflect blame away from themselves. In response, the Chinese government, as well as many worldwide health officials, have stated it is extremely unlikely the virus escaped from the WIV, barring some extreme sequence of coincidences. However, the diplomatic messages from 2018 should be startling enough to encourage the WHO or other bodies to investigate if perhaps the improbable did happen at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.