Scientists Maintain Coronavirus Evolved Naturally

Several members of my listening audience believe the novel coronavirus was cooked up in a lab.  Some believe it was unleashed as an act of terrorism.  As late as this morning I was at my desk and heard a national host tell a guest he still believed it came from a Chinese laboratory. 

It may have, but it wasn’t spliced together there.  Or at least it’s the view of several scientists who’ve been studying COVID-19.  They come from the United States, Scotland and Australia.  I found the story at this link, which is a well-known source.

Last night an acquaintance posted a link from a website claiming the virus was the work of madmen (or madwomen, to be politically correct).  The site he referenced isn’t what anyone would call scientific.  The old saw is, just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t make it true!

Even after I posted the medical journal link on Facebook, some very bright people I know refused to believe the research.  Because, after all, we’ve seen movies where this is all part of the conspiracy.  We can’t any longer believe bad things happen without some nefarious force as the cause.  I concede government and other institutions have done a lot to harm public confidence.

It’s also a short walk to paranoia and tinfoil hats.

Now they’ll accuse me of being compromised and part of the conspiracy.  Which extends as far as small radio stations in the high desert.  Please, if I was in on it, I’d be driving a nicer car.