No, COVID-19 Coronavirus Was Not Bioengineered. Here's The Research That Debunks That Idea

[Celerity]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/17/covid-19-coronavirus-did-not-come-from-a-lab-study-shows-natural-origins/#593bd0803728

Don’t you just love conspiracy theories? Especially when two groups of people have pretty much the same conspiracy theory about each other? Some folks including politicians in the U.S. and China have both suggested that the COVID-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) that’s causing the pandemic may actually be a bioweapon that was manufactured in a lab. The only difference between their conspiracy theories is who’s being accused of doing the manufacturing.

On the one corner are some people in the U.S. who are hinting or in some cases openly claiming that China put together this virus. For example, look at what Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) tweeted out back on January 30:

Link to tweet

Then, Steve Mosher wrote on February 22 an opinion piece for the New York Post entitled, “Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab.” Take a wild guess at what Mosher wrote about in his piece. By the way, Mosher is not a biomedical scientist, but instead is the president of the Population Research Institute and author of book called Bully of Asia: Why China’s ‘Dream’ Is the New Threat to World Order. So chances are that he didn’t love China in the first place. But who knows, love works in mysterious ways.

So what evidence have Cotton, Mosher, and others provided to support these suggestions or claims? Incriminating pictures? Suspicious emails? Some awkward selfies? Any kind of scientific evidence?

snip

[John Fante]

1. Conspiracy kooks will dismiss this evidence as part of the conspiracy.

There is no getting through to them.

[Celerity]

2. can't fix stupid...........

[treestar]

9. like Col. Flagg of MASH

finding out it is just a card game means all the card game players are unknowing parts of the conspiracy - "this is bigger than all of you!"

[ansible]

3. Problem is that won't stop someone else from tinkering with it now

The infection rate of this virus is incredible, it's the perfect bioweapon

[intrepidity]

4. The real problem is that Darwin is already tinkering with it

Another really, really, REALLY good reason to avoid infection, is to deny the virus the opportunity to replicate billions of copies, which will include millions of mutations, mutations that will include an even worse, more deadly version. The longer this virus is unchecked in the wild, the more likely it will mutated to a worse version.

[kurtcagle]

6. Not really

Viruses usually tend to mutate into forms that allow for greatest replication. Killing the host tends to work in nature because animals eating other animals is common. Modern humans don't leave corpses to spread disease, so killing the host is counterproductive. Over time Covid19 will mutate into something that isn't as lethal, and humans will build up a resistance.

[ansible]

7. Assuming it doesn't mutate like the Spanish flu did

Spanish flu wasn't even that deadly at first, it was after it mutated into a deadlier strain that it started killing millions.

[intrepidity]

8. A mutation that doubles the R naught would be devastating

for example

[LakeArenal]

5. I'm glad to know it.

Because I would not put it past any awful country might do it.

[rockfordfile]

10. Vote Tom Cotton out

[Rstrstx]

11. Has anyone been following this rumor lately?

I stumbled onto an article tonight saying that the British government now cannot rule out the possibility that the virus is naturally occurring but may have been released from a lab in Wuhan, probably inadvertently. The story is starting to spread beyond the usual tinfoil conspiracy sites, though I see no record of it on Fox. Can anyone point to some rebuttals to this argument?

To add to the conspiracy element this paper was supposedly set to publish in February before being pulled:

https://img-prod.tgcom24.mediaset.it/images/2020/02/16/114720192-5eb8307f-017c-4075-a697-348628da0204.pdf

If Judge Jeanine sobers up enough to get wind of this the shrill will be unbearable.