The Covid-19 pandemic began in Wuhan, China in late 2019, with two competing hypotheses on how it started: the zoonosis hypothesis, where the virus naturally transmitted from animals to humans at a wet market, and the lab leak hypothesis, where it was possibly modified in a lab and escaped. Scientists support the zoonosis hypothesis, while politicians and the public favor the lab leak idea. Despite evidence supporting the former, attacks on scientists and virologists have increased, hindering their research and pandemic preparation efforts. The lab leak narrative fuels mistrust in science and public health systems, impacting future research and virologist’s work.
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