Covid Lab Leak Theory: Some Government Agencies Believe It—Here’s Why Most Scientists Don’t

Politicians and some government agencies continue to contend the Covid-19 pandemic started as a leak from the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, even as scientists and public health officials say the evidence points to it naturally emerging from animals at a food market in China.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday the U.S. Department of Energy assessed with “low confidence” the Covid pandemic originated from a lab leak, resparking debate about the coronavirus’ origins (it’s still unknown what the Energy department’s evidence of a lab leak is).

In 2017, the National Intelligence Community said the term “low-confidence” means the “reliability of the sources is questionable,” or the information’s “credibility and/or plausibility is uncertain.”