Origin of the Covid Virus and Epidemic

I do not know how the covid virus originated or first infected people.  If anyone outside of China does know and has evidence to validate his conclusion, he’s not talking in public.  I do have an opinion. I believe the likely hypothesis is that the virus was stored and studied at the virology lab in Wuhan, China and (probably accidentally) released from there.  People at the lab were studying  and working with viruses of the same general sort. The first reported cases were in the area of Wuhan.

 However the main reason for my opinion is the behavior of the Chinese government. That government is a brutal dictatorship with a brutal and unrestrained secret police.  I think one may assume that if the virus came from the lab, Chinese officials either knew it immediately or learned it quickly. If they knew it did not come from the lab, it would have been in the Chinese government’s interest to be free, easy, and open in allowing outside observers and researchers to see whatever they wanted at the lab so that people everywhere would see China was innocent and had nothing to hide. Instead Chinese officials  have done the opposite.

One of China’s main assets in its competition with the United States is its modern day China Lobby of secret agents, ideological fellow travelers, paid flacks, and people with professional or business interests in or connections to China. The Chinese government’s behavior concerning the virus and the epidemic has made it harder for that lobby to function effectively and led to more Americans seeing China as a threat or enemy.  That was predictable, and it strikes me as best explained by the idea that  Chinese officials decided that allowing people to learn what really happened would be worse.

That is not conclusive, but I think it is the way to bet.