I think everyone knows that #4 is a plausible theory. But it's frustrating to see how the media played it as a conspiracy theory, which just discredits the media. Kind of like how they said that masks aren't helpful at first, with the ulterior (but noble) intention of preserving the mask supply for healthcare workers.

It just reinforces the idea that misinformation is fine as long as it gets people to behave the "right" way, and only bad if it could cause someone to do something wrong.