Roll a hyper-dimensional die representing all possible human-bat interaction locations over time.

How many of those are a mile away from locations where scientists actively collect bat viruses?

Obviously it is possible this was a leak from a lab working on bats and coronaviruses. Zero Hedge was banned from Twitter for speculating about this under the flimsy excuse of “doxxing” a publicly-listed contact for the head of the Wuhan lab conducting coronavirus work, but they were right to suggest the possibility. After all, there have been several examples of governments covering up incidents like this, and we usually only find out years later when the evidence eventually piles up or a brave witness/whistleblower finally speaks up. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sverdlovsk_anthrax_leak for such an example.

COVID has been a huge benefit to China ultimately. They have gained significantly on relative terms while everyone who has a less authoritarian form of governance (like the US and Europe) has lost. This was helped in part by the CCP’s cover up and suppression of journalists reporting about the coronavirus (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/08/8037667...). That costed the rest of the world valuable time in learning about the virus, in preparing for it, and so forth. China should have voluntarily shut down all their ports much earlier to contain the virus. Instead they sat on this information, didn’t close their ports at all (waiting instead on other countries to deny traffic), and quietly hoarded supplies like PPE while no one knew any better. In the end, the CCP managed to dodge responsibility for this cover up and inaction, and instead recently jailed the brave journalist who reported on the virus for four years (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3117734/no-...). What a gross injustice.

And then there’s the fact that repeated requests to visit the Wuhan lab have been denied, and even a general visit by the WHO to explore the origins of the virus have been denied, even as late as this month (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555466). This WHO a team was finally allowed in this week but with a whole year having passed, I’m sure any evidence that could implicate the Wuhan lab of a leak, accidental or otherwise, will have been erased.

Is there ANY reason to trust the CCP or cut them any slack on this issue? I feel like the main reason news media and individuals on social media pushed back on such speculation, on the casting of blame on China, and on referring to the virus by location, was simply due to their distaste for Trump and their willingness to attack him at any opportunity.

And people wonder why non-Americans sometimes hate the American political system..

This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay.

So Pompeo puts out something akin to gasoline on the fire of china-US relations as a "parting gift" to the Biden administration.

Folks, don't get sucked in. Threat analysis says this is not helpful, or even very informed.

Were the CCP unhelpful? Sure! Is this PR warfare helpful? Shit no!

Remapping reality onto politics may be fun and emotionally satisfying, but it is also extremely dangerous. Scientific investigation shows not only that SARS-CoV2 came from bats, but that we should expect more viral outbreaks as human contact with wild animal populations continues to increase. The Chinese Communist Party could continue to run wild with their worst behavior and still never come close to the threat that nature itself holds over us.

Something can be both propaganda and factually accurate at the same time. There is no such thing as a neutral source. When it comes to China, if it's not the CCP party line then it's probably relayed through Falun Gong affiliated media.

> This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay.

I disagree. I can see two unsupported claims here:

"The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses."

"Despite the WIV presenting itself as a civilian institution, the United States has determined that the WIV has collaborated on publications and secret projects with China’s military."

These may be true or not, but the evidence is not presented.

All other points raised are either opinion or facts that have been known to the public for a long time.

One of the first articles on covid I saw was from the Chicago School of Economics crowing about how covid was going to set China back into the 1970's. It was dismaying because it foretold how certain political factions in the US were going to respond to the threat.

There are two possibilities: that Pompey/Trump want to sabotage Biden as you suspect; or that they don’t want this intel suppressed. Regardless, the timing of the release is unlikely to be a coincidence. Sadly, the deep cleavages in US politics are going to make most people view this through partisan eyes.

I am not inclined to dismiss this entirely though:

1) There were concerns about Gain of Function research long before Covid-19. I recall it was discussed on HN even (but can’t find the exact link)

2) There have been outbreaks of SARS linked to labs.

3) China has been secretive and uncooperative with investigations and has turned its wrath against an erstwhile partner (Australia) after that country’s government called for an investigation into the origin of the virus (maybe a coincidence as well though).

I am not inclined to unquestioningly believe the same government that lied/erred terribly on WMDs in Iraq, but I also don’t think we can unquestioningly dismiss the idea that the virus escaped from a lab that was doing experiments that would be expected to produce a virus of this sort, rather than a random mutation that just happened to be in a market in the same city.

A less conspiratorial take on the timing is that it's due to this:

https://time.com/5929647/who-china-pandemic-origins-covid19-...