The Origins of COVID-19: Understanding the Lab Leak Theory
- Siler Wooster
- Dec 10, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 10, 2024
Background
COVID-19 first emerged in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. The first cases were diagnosed with an unknown respiratory illness with symptoms similar to pneumonia and the flu. In a time with as much uncertainty as the early pandemic days, multiple theories were shared that speak to the origin of COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2). The theories range from zoonotic origins (the virus originating in an animal host and being transmitted to humans) to COVID-19 being engineered as a bioweapon for population control. The goal of this blog is to explore the much debated theory that COVID-19 was created in a lab and leaked to the general population.
Coronaviruses and How They Spread
COVID-19 is not the first coronavirus to impact humans, the first one to be found in humans was in the 1960s. As of most recently there are seven coronaviruses to impact people, and even more that affect animals. The first major coronavirus outbreak to infect humans was in 2002 and 2003 in China (more specifically the Guangdong province). Coronaviruses as a whole cause issues in the upper respiratory tract, this results typically in flu-like symptoms which spread through droplets.
Diving Into the Lab Leak Theory
According to Forbes, Senator Tom Cotton (from Arkansas) was among one of the first people to express a disagreement towards the theory of natural origin of the virus, stating that COVID was leaked from a lab (though he didn't have any evidence of such a claim). In April, 2020 previous President Donald Trump claimed he had people looking into the lab leak. Donald Trump and previous Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly supported the lab leak theory and encouraged investigation into it. This investigation was halted when the Biden Administration took over in early 2021 (later to be brought back up again after China allegedly withheld information).
In February 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) published a statement claiming a lab leak was unlikely, which was followed by various scientific journals proving a natural origin of COVID-19. Despite these studies from researchers and statements from public health officials, how COVID emerged is still widely debated across the world.
College Students on the Lab Leak Theory (Part One of Three)
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