I really didn't want to believe that the origin was a lab leak instead of from the wet market, but now I think b_b was right all along.
In my mind, this does little to defuse the "look what can happen when we encroach on nature" argument, though.
But mostly, I worry that mutations have made (or will make) defeating SARS-CoV-2 impossible. We may be doomed.
I know, bud :(. I've seen the reports showing a 150% rise in hate crimes directed at Asian Americans. And that is why we should never call it "the China virus", regardless of the specifics behind its origin, uhsguy. Rhetoric matters.
It won't be impossible, but it may be more difficult. A sythetic virus will likely have more "space to explore". If I didn't suspect that this was the result of human experimentation, I would have been less concerned all along. I try to keep this in mind when I am in places like Tennessee last week, and half of the people are going indoors without masks. I suspect that if they were convinced this virus was an experiment gone wrong, they'd probably be more cautious. However, they'd also probably attack my wife. There needs to be a moratorium on this type of research. The world needs to understand that this was likely self-inflicted, and likely did not have to happen.
I think the Big Minds That Think About These Things are all in agreement that SARS-CoV-2 (and its inevitable variants and mutations) are with us for good, like the seasonal flu and colds. Eradication is no longer possible. If it is possible to mix the two, I expect the flu booster people get in the fall before "flu season" probably be enhanced to include a COVID vaccine eventually. Maybe for the 2022 flu season. And we will just Deal With It.