Originally Posted by
Excargodog
You don’t actually need to ascribe malice if simple incompetence will do.
Exactly, could it have accidentally escaped from the normal course of study? Potentially, but no evidence exists to support that theory.
Everyone on the blame China bandwagon seems to forget they are not the only ones who research dangerous pathogens and in fact many other labs have accidentally let things escape over the years. Heck, we even sent live anthrax samples on accident to unsuspecting labs...
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...s-labs-n365511
But to the OP's point:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...pons-research/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...418-9/fulltext
TL;DR version, all genetic research point to it not being man made.