There was no definitive proof of the orgin of C-19. So, at the time it was appropriate to be suspicious of the lab leak theory, just like it was appropriate to

There was no definitive proof of the orgin of C-19. So, at the time it was appropriate to be suspicious of the lab leak theory, just like it was appropriate to be suspicious of a wet market orgin. It just takes time to work all this stuff out. Studies can be done wrong, people have motivated reasons, etc... IIRC, at the time, the lab-leak theory was dismissed due to two main reasons: 1.) "bigger claims require better evidence" and 2.) The Trump/MAGA crowd had tied the lab leak to some fairly extreme and racist conspiracy theories. Yes there were very suspicious coincidences, plus china shutting down any investigation into the orgins of the epidemic. But there was no smoking gun, no definitive proof of a lab leak. For example, no lab worker came forward and claimed responsibility for the leak. Also, to further address point 2, there was an increase in hate crimes against asian-americans. See: Raising Awareness of Hate Crimes and Hate Incidents the COVID-19 Pandemic Given all that, I think that it was appropriate to be very cautious about the lab leak hypothesis. [0] PDF, https://www.justice.gov/file/1507346/download https://www.justice.gov/file/1507346/download