User:CutePeach/YESLABLEAK

From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, there have been rumors and speculation about the possible lab origins of SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent that causes the COVID-19 disease. From as early as Jan 2020, rumors began spreading between Chinese netizens on social media platforms, alleging that the virus was made in the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and that a laboratory worker accidentally got infected and spread it to the population. By late Jan 2020, these rumors were covered in local Chinese media, eliciting a strong response from the WIV, and subsequently gained attention in the international media.

In a February 10 2020 internal email with scientists, White House advisor Mark Keim proposed that the novel virus could have been "anthropogenic rather than zoonotic." From late April 2020 on, US President Donald Trump made several statements which politicised the issue, and many scientists - including those open to the possibility of a lab leak - were reluctant to express their opinions for fear of being associated with Trump. As the issue gained prominence in public discourse, scientists generally agreed that the origin of the virus itself was zoonotic, but raised questions on the early evolution of the virus and how it first infected humans. In a Feb 19 2020 letter to The Lancet, a group of 27 scientists took a stand to "strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin", which was soon followed by a March 17 2020 letter to Nature Magazine by a different group, asserting that the virus must have natural origins. With the departure of Trump came a joint study between China and the World Health Organization - which left questions unanswered - and met a largely critical reception. In a May 14 2021 letter to Science Magazine, a group of distinguished scientists countered the positions of the Lancet and Nature letters saying it was not possible to distinguish between a naturally occurring infection and a laboratory-acquired infection and other types of occupationally acquired infections, shifting consensus on the virus’s origins to the middle ground.

Wikipedia editors have tried to cover this topic from different points of view, but have been "at war" on how to include it from a neutral point of view, or whether to include it at all. Some editors have tried to include the COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis in Wikipedia, citing WP:N and WP:DUE, while other editors have opposed its inclusion citing WP:FRINGE and WP:MEDRS, codifying their reasoning in WP:NOLABLEAK - a userspace essay often cited in mainspace discussions. The purpose of this WP:YESLABLEAK essay is to explain why some people think SARS-CoV-2 may have leaked from a lab, and why some Wikipedia editors think these reasons - as reported in reliable sourcess - should be covered in Wikipedia. Since this is a mainspace essay, it may be improved by other editors, within the bounds of its statement, and Wikipedia policies and guideliness. As such, this essay may also be nominated for deletion once the Investigations into the origin of COVID-19 are complete and evidence of natural origins has been presented to and accepted by the scientific community.

Reasons given for why SARS-CoV-2 may have leaked from a lab

#1: Proximity

Wuhan, the epicenter of the initial disease outbreak also happens to be home to a laboratory that was known to collect and study coronaviruses, with a focus on collecting SARS-like coronaviruses and studies on their human transmissibility.

• Counterpoint: Some have argued that pointing at the WIV as the source of the outbreak is like pointing at a fire department as the cause of a nearby fire.

#2: Similarity

Out of all the billions of quadrillions of virus species that could have jumped from animals to humans, the one which made the jump in late 2019 was of the exact same species as the one that jumped 17 years earlier in 2002.

There are more viruses on earth than there are stars in the universe - by several orders of magnitude. But as many viruses as there are, they are still finite in number, and broken down into many classifications. SARS-CoV-2 for example - like its sister virus SARS-CoV-1 - is classed in the family of Coronaviridae, genus of Betacoronavirus, subgenus of Sarbecovirus and species of SARSr-CoV. For two bat-borne viruses of the same species to cross the species barrier and cause a pandemic in humans - within twenty years of each other - is like two meteorites hitting the exact same spot on earth - within twenty years of each other.

• Counterpoint: Some virologists have argued that something about Sarbecoviruses and SARS-like viruses gives them the ability to jump the species barrier and become human transmissible, like a super giant magnet attracting our analogous meteorites from outer space.

#3: Concealment

The Chinese government structured its cooperation with the World Health Organization in such a way to assure plausible deniability of lab origins, by setting the terms of reference for a joint study, choosing which scientists could participate in the study to produce a report, and refusing to provide any raw data for independent scientists to reproduce their findings. This is in stark contrast to their investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-1 in 2002 and 2003, where they cooperated with the World Health Organization and made serological and phylogenetic data available to investigators.

• Counterpoint: Some commenters have argued that the Chinese government is secretive about everything, and that their secrecy on this issue should therefore not be taken to imply they are trying to hide anything here.

Reasons given for why the COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis should be covered in Wikipedia

WP:N

True or not, the lab leak hypothesis is notable, and has been reported in hundreds of WP:RSs as a plausible origin hypothesis being considered by the World Health Organization.

WP:DUE

Not only is it notable, but the lab leak hypothesis is also reported as one of two main spillover hypotheses as to how a bat-borne virus/s first infected a human/s.

WP:POVDELETION

Just because the wording of some text in support of the hypothesis seems biased, doesn’t justify deleting it.

Links

• A summary of arguments about the Origin of Covid can be found at [1]