Speculations have been going around about the coronavirus "escaping" from a lab in Wuhan. Some even say that the virus was genetically manipulated by man and has gotten out of control.
However, Mark Kortepeter, the former deputy director of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, argues that the virus most likely spread through natural channels rather than from a "hot zone" lab.
He shares his opinion with the Washington Times, saying that humans either got it from direct exposure to bats or through some other animal host, as also theorized by some experts. He adds that this type of deluge has occurred in the past, which makes it more likely to be the same case with the coronavirus.
He says it is also possible that lab personnel got exposed to the virus found in nature, and transmitted the virus to someone else in the lab. He adds that the speed of COVID-19's spread or its lethality provides clues as to whether it broke free from a laboratory environment.
Just because the virus spreads efficiently through the population doesn't mean it has been weaponized, Kortepeter contests. Meanwhile, the U.S. intelligence community is currently investigating the origins of SARS-CoV-2 to find answers to address the mysteries surrounding the disease.
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Why the Coronavirus Didn't Start in a Wuhan Lab
An important point Kortepeter makes is that the Wuhan Institute previously released their published work on a scientific process in which a virus is made more effective. Although this might cause some suspicion, he says that if malintent were behind it, it would highly be unlikely for them to publish their work about it.
He also argues that the Wuhan Institute has "Biosafety Level 4" labs. In level four labs, scientists wear hazmat suits and deal with the world's most lethal pathogens. Given the exceptional level of caution correlated with work in a Biosafety Level 4 unit, it is much more likely that if the virus jumped into humans from a lab, it did so from a Level 2 or Level 3 laboratory facility.
Kortepeter considers two possible scenarios in the lab. He says either someone got exposed to a natural origin such as an animal, or an exposure to a manipulated virus. His theory is that it started from exposure in the natural environment. However, considering being a biodefense and Army official, he says he does not shut out the possibility of someone trying to do things for vicious intents.
No Coordination and Spread of Misinformation Hurting the Economy
The United State's national response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been cramped by intermittent waves of misinformation and lack of organization, says Kortepeter. An article published in the clinical journal The Lancet has recently been retracted after the researchers took back their claim of hydroxychloroquine being harmful to coronavirus patients.
Kortepeter says that instances like this just add "fuel to the fire," and the media just ounces on it, making things worse. Moving forward, he says a more focused response is a better approach to cope with disease outbreaks, rather than ordering shutdowns around the world.
He observes that unity still isn't a priority when dealing with this type of situation, which "hurts" us even more. Furthermore, he explains that viruses that reproduce and mutate frantically make them more resistant to treatment and vaccines. Kortepeter says humanity's best hope is that the virus remains stable, making it easier for scientists to develop lifetime vaccines.
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