First people sickened by Covid-19 were scientists at WIV: US government sources (public.substack.com)

Article summary

The article reports that US government sources claim the first people sickened by Covid-19 were scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. However, the article text is not available, and the discussion is based on comments. Some commenters suggest that Covid-19 may have been circulating earlier than initially thought, with possible cases in Europe and the US in late 2019. The discussion also touches on the possibility of a lab leak and the suppression of this theory in the media.

Main themes

• Covid-19 origins
• lab leak theory
• media suppression
• expert opinion
• politicization of science
• conspiracy theories

What commenters say

• Some people believe that Covid-19 was circulating in Europe and the US in late 2019, before the official outbreak.
• The theory of a lab leak was initially suppressed in the media and by some experts, but is now being reconsidered.
• There is evidence to suggest that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick with Covid-19-like symptoms in autumn 2019.
• The idea of a lab leak is not incompatible with the possibility of an accidental release.
• Some argue that the media and experts were too quick to dismiss the lab leak theory and that it was unfairly stigmatized as a conspiracy theory.
• Others claim that the lab leak theory was not suppressed and that it was always considered a possibility.
• The discussion around the origins of Covid-19 is highly politicized and influenced by various agendas and biases.