Deconstructed podcast says the idea that Covid-19 may have originated in an unintentional leak from a Wuhan virology lab is looking “stronger by the day”. There is no smoking gun proving it, but nor is this a conspiracy theory. The facts appear to be that the science and technology to modify a natural coronavirus into something more transmissable and deadly exists, and that this type of research was being carried out at the Wuhan lab in question.

To me, the fact that there was a lab conducting this type of research near where the novel virus was first detected does not prove that it was the source. I would want to know how many labs around the world are conducting this type of research. In other words, do many cities around the world have labs conducting this type of research? If so, the fact that there was a lab in the city where Covid-19 was first detected would be expected and likely, and not evidence that it was the source. But if there are labs all over the place doing this type of research, would that be comforting in any way? Certainly no!

I am a little surprised there are not more conspiracy theories suggesting any of the variants could be genetically modified. It seems like the technology would exist for some sociopathic scientist to take a sample of the virus and mess with it. Let’s hope that is not happening. But even if there is no suggestion it is happening now, this sort of thing is going to happen. It seems like a big risk to me – how do we deal with it?