Initial outbreaks of viruses occur geographically at random (with China having a >1/6 chance); the fact that there are significant UK, South African, and Brazilian variants has a much lower random component and a much higher deterministic component. It also illustrates where those variants are still primarily spreading.
If one of those variants become globally dominant, I doubt we will continue to name them after the location.
Let’s stay on topic. The truth is that many people were reluctant to even consider the lab theory because it might look anti-Chinese at a time when Trump was blatantly attacking them and blaming them for the virus with no evidence. The point is that politics led to censorship that made it difficult to consider all possibilities.
The mere mention of the word Trump, and any sort of nuanced, pro/con conversation is lost. It becomes an emotional response. A sad state of public discourse.
He should’ve called it the CCP Virus. I actually like where he was going (let’s be real, China’s secrecy let it spread more widely), but another Trump fail.
