I do see why you could have misunderstood that statement, but I at least understood it correctly on my first read, and didn't think anything more of it (except that I hadn't known about this particular leak before, and thought that was interesting) until reading your comment here.

So while I can see why you might have found that confusing, I also think the author could have believed the wording wasn't confusing, and is innocent of any accusations of bad intent. I think that's where the "hysteria" accusation comes from (though I agree that's a bit out of line): you seem pretty adamant about painting the author with a bad-faith brush, even after your misunderstanding was corrected. That's not ok either; just admit that you misunderstood and overreacted, and move on.

I'm not sure I buy this omicron lab leak theory, though I do think there may be better (if incredibly circumstantial) evidence for this than for the original virus being a lab leak from Wuhan. Under the assumption that the author is wrong, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that the argument is sincere, if flawed.