Public was misled by the scientific community about COVID origins, NY Times columnist argues

The New York Times published an opinion column claiming the scientific community "badly misled" the public in an effort to suppress the theory that COVID-19 originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, even after the paper's own science writer called the theory "racist." 

The March 16 piece, "We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives," by Times columnist and Princeton Sociology Professor Zeynep Tufekci, argued that the scientific community long suspected COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab, but purposefully "hid or understated crucial facts," to mislead the public about the lab’s "terrifyingly lax" safety precautions.