Or, one theory was supported by a rather unfashionable red-haired politician. Otherwise you're simply making a circular statement that the NYT did not agree originally, so it makes sense for everyone who considers their pages to be the arbiter of fact, to fall in line.

I personally thought the rumors launched by the Chinese government were highly suspicious (references to an armed forces games and Ft. Detrick) and the alternative hypothesis just pointed at the same rather distant bats & viruses that the local lab systematically collected and cultivated. Really, in the end, the actual head-scratcher and scandal is why "we" in the western world looked so often for thought and action leadership, to China on this topic. It's strange that our own leaders were unable to tell what was credible, or even what kind of social action or persuasion was consistent with western values. We all became "China" for two years, and I for one remain confused by that recent period in history.