[ern]

There are two possibilities: that Pompey/Trump want to sabotage Biden as you suspect; or that they don’t want this intel suppressed. Regardless, the timing of the release is unlikely to be a coincidence. Sadly, the deep cleavages in US politics are going to make most people view this through partisan eyes.

I am not inclined to dismiss this entirely though:

1) There were concerns about Gain of Function research long before Covid-19. I recall it was discussed on HN even (but can’t find the exact link)

2) There have been outbreaks of SARS linked to labs.

3) China has been secretive and uncooperative with investigations and has turned its wrath against an erstwhile partner (Australia) after that country’s government called for an investigation into the origin of the virus (maybe a coincidence as well though).

I am not inclined to unquestioningly believe the same government that lied/erred terribly on WMDs in Iraq, but I also don’t think we can unquestioningly dismiss the idea that the virus escaped from a lab that was doing experiments that would be expected to produce a virus of this sort, rather than a random mutation that just happened to be in a market in the same city.

[ggm]

Why do you think there is a virology lab looking at zoonotic diseases in Wuhan? Is it not likely that a high prevalence of zoonotic disease there, historically, has led to specific interest? Why is the Durham county hospital causing all this coal miners black lung disease!

Why does the Liverpool school of tropical hygiene and medicine cause this huge spike in non indigenous malaria!

Seriously: the wuhan virology lab is there, because the problem is there.

[peytn]

I’m not so sure because Wuhan is on an alluvial plain and thus probably doesn’t have too many bats relative to other places. The han in Wuhan is the same as the Han people, so it’s a safe bet that Wuhan is a hub for culture and education. So, and I’m guessing here, a likely reason that Wuhan was chosen for SARS work is because it’s an academic hub that isn’t Shanghai or Beijing.

[mhh__]

Why would Biden suppress this? Anyone who thinks Joe Biden is in bed with China needs to seriously adjust their priors and get off the Trump koolaid IV