It is Extremely Unlikely that SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that Causes COVID-19, Came from a Lab

The COVID-19 pandemic continues due to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19. Unfortunately and predictably, baseless claims spread on the origin of SARS-CoV-2, just as conspiracy theories also spread on the origin of the AIDS pandemic caused by the virus HIV. These claims center on the conspiracist idea that SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab, instead of naturally evolving and spreading completely outside of a lab. The sources below undermine this idea in its various forms.

Youtube comment threads citing published sources, with a corresponding twitter thread:

• Claiming SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab is roughly on par with claiming that HIV originally arose and/or spread due to scientific research (twitter threads)

• SARS-CoV-2 did not come from HIV, and it is very unlikely that humans constructed SARS-CoV-2

• The Chinese government's immoral and secretive behavior is not evidence that SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab in Wuhan

• The pandemic's supposed origin near a lab in Wuhan is not evidence that SARS-CoV-2 came from that lab

• The pandemic's supposed origin near a BSL-4 Wuhan lab is not evidence that SARS-CoV-2 came from that lab

• It is extremely unlikely SARS-CoV-2 came (or escaped) from the Wuhan Institute of Virology

• Evidence on the non-lab origin and evolution of SARS-CoV-2

• An evidence-based, non-lab origin for SARS-CoV-2's furin cleavage site

• Debunking Bret Weinstein's paranoid claims on SARS-CoV-2's origin and its furin cleavage site (twitter thread)

• Rebuttal to Ronen Shemesh's conspiracist claims regarding SARS-CoV-2's furin cleavage site and its time-frame for evolution

• Addressing the false insinuations of Richard Dearlove, Birger Sorensen, Angus Dalgleish, and Nikolai Petrovsky on SARS-CoV-2 being either engineered in a Wuhan lab, or it spreading from said lab

• Paranoid claims about miners are not evidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology made SARS-CoV-2 from the virus RaTG13, nor evidence that RaTG13 harmed said miners

Videos from other sources:

• Potholer54's video: "Did SARS-Cov-2 start in a Chinese lab?"

• Reasons to Believe's video: "COVID origins, Conspiracy Theories, and Christians Thinking Clearly"

• Myles Power's video: "No, the Coronavirus Was Not Bioengineered"

• Professor Stick's video: "Is COVID-19 Man Made?"