The Facts – and Gaps – on the Origin of the Coronavirus

A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic — and with a death toll approaching 4 million lives — how the coronavirus came to spark a global scourge remains unknown. Was it the result of a spillover from an animal to a human, as has happened repeatedly in the past? Or did the virus accidentally escape from a nearby lab?

The default answer for most scientists has been that the virus, SARS-CoV-2, probably made the jump to humans from bats, if it was a direct spillover — or, more likely, through...