Four federal agencies consider lab-leak hypothesis for COVID origin, one ranks it "low confidence" spurring WSJ headline

[mrbigstuff]

pdq wrote:
[quote=mrbigstuff]
I'm with Stewart. At least as far as we don't know what we don't know.

There are the crazies who said it couldn't have anything to do with China and a lab, even though it in close proximity to a lab with the same viruses.

“Close proximity” in this case means something like 7-10 miles. So the virus jumped that seven miles and caused an outbreak cluster at a market with live wild animals, without any clusters in between. And the viruses are the “same” in the sense that they are part of the same group of viruses, but appear to be genetically distinct from the viruses they worked on in the lab.

neaky:

Not impossible, just not that likely, says the WHO and most virologists and epidemiologists who have studied it. SARS, another Coronavirus, almost certainly came from wild animals in China.
ah, so you think that the lab should have been located on a 2nd floor above the market for it to be in close proximity. like, the guy from the lab should have gone down to the market for lunch, touched a bunch of prep tables and then left.

the distinction between the viruses has not been made conclusively, that's why it is still being discussed.