That you think it's a coincidence that a novel coronavirus pops up in the only place in china working on coronaviruses blows my mind. Any sane, rational human thought it likely a lab leak from the moment this thing started.

Or the scientists sensibly chose to build their lab near where novel viruses are expected to be found, to make studying them easier?

You'd probably, for example, find that charities studying/helping poverty are often found near where lots of poor people live - yet you wouldn't blame charities for creating poverty.

> chose to build their lab near where novel viruses are expected to be found

Then they should have built the lab 800 KM south west in Yunnan. The lab is there for the same reason we have labs in NYC major regional hub with many universities, the lab has been there since the 1950s. Researchers had to travel to places like Yunnan and Laos to collect samples.

Isn’t that lab in Wuhan because it’s a region with a lot of endemic coronaviruses?

It's a large region. Also the virus didn't come from anywhere near there. Also, the bats they supposedly came from weren't sold at the wet market. Start with the suspicion and work your way through the facts from there.

A distinction without a difference.

I've said it was a lab leak from about month two of the pandemic.

Any sane person hearing me say this should assume I have low confidence as the sort of evidence necessary to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt is information a random hn commentor could not possibly have.

Unfortunately, even expressing that you thought it likely it was a lab leak was enough to get my accounts banned on several social media.

If I ask you what time it is and you're not really sure, do you say "It's 1:04:35.023"?

So if you 'said it was a lab leak', but expected people to know you really mean "based on the extremely limited information I have on the situation, it don't feel the possibly of it being a lab leak can not be entirely discounted", then you've communicated poorly.

You've said in this comment that "you thought it likely it was a lab leak". Again, that's not the words of someone with low confidence in their theory.

Then we have to come to your motives in espousing such a theory. What was your point in saying that then and now? Is it that you think the world in general should work towards better lab practices? If so why not say that instead. Why do you want people to know you think it was from a particular lab?

Just saying what you're saying sounds a lot like an anti-China dog-whistle, especially in the environment in which you're saying it.

What is your motivation in making this post other than to protect the Chinese communist party from any and all criticism? Since we're questioning motivations and all. Exactly what do we get by leaving the origins of COVID a mystery, and uninvestigated. Why do you think it's not important to know exactly the source of the virus.

Yes, if the virus were engineered or even just leaked from a wild source kept in the lab, we deserve to know, for a multitude of reasons.

>What is your motivation in making this post other than to protect the Chinese communist party from any and all criticism?

Sorry, but if this is your best effort at explaining that post, then there is something deeply wrong with you.

It's not a meaningful distinction because of what you said years ago? Am I even reading this post right? It's so absurd.