Joe Biden wants to know if the coronavirus pandemic originated in a laboratory. A coronavirus that naturally infected bats gained the ability to infect humans through normal evolution in the wild or farmed captivity. This had historical precedent: both the original Sars virus in 2003 and the Mers outbreak in 2012 arose in this way. If you wanted to create a pandemic coronavirus in a lab, the WIV would be a hell of a place to do it. Each theory also neatly appeals to a certain sort of person, what you might call the fringes of both sides.

Source: The Guardian May 29, 2021 06:00 UTC