The Origin of SARS-CoV-2: Examining the Evidence

I remain largely agnostic about the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Based on all the evidence available to me at this stage, none of the following scenarios: a lab-leak, a field-collection accident, or a standard zoonotic spillover can be formally ruled out.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023

I also don't know whether SARS-CoV-2 was circulating, as is, in an animal reservoir, it recombined prior to its jump into humans, or was passaged, or even engineered in a lab. What I'm 100% convinced of, is that if a lab-leak had been involved, its release was unintentional.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023

My hunch is that we will eventually know how SARS-CoV-2 jumped into humans, in quite some detail, but it will take more time, possibly years, if not decades, to get there.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023

The current debate doesn't strike me as conducive to get to the truth. Most arguments for or against a lab origin tend to be largely political, sometimes to an absurd level. The origin of SARS-CoV-2 is an empirical question, with an actual - totally apolitical - true answer.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023

Arguments such as "anyone considering the possibility of a lab origin is a Trumpian fascist" or conversely "proponents of a zoonotic origin are all on the payroll of the CCP / WEF", strike me as remarkably silly.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023

Such arguments will also fail to convince anyone outside the narrow tribe of the person pushing them, and won't contribute anything to the debate, beyond in-group signalling.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023

Also, there's a weird argument that there should be a correlation between SARS-CoV-2's (perceived) severity, and the likelihood of its lab origin. The two are completely orthogonal.
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— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) June 25, 2023