How did coronavirus break out? Theories abound as researchers race to solve genetic detective story

https://www.wdrb.com/news/coronavirus/how-did-coronavirus-break-out-theories-abound-as-researchers-race-to-solve-genetic-detective-story/article_79c2190c-787b-11ea-994a-e33e39161b57.html

Another potentially explosive theory -- first posed by two Chinese researchers in early February and amplified by Fox News host Tucker Carlson on March 31 -- holds that the origin traces back to an accident in one of two labs near the Wuhan market that work with bats.

Most of the experts interviewed for this story discounted the theory -- whose progenitors reportedly withdrew their paper -- saying it wasn't supported by evidence.

The theory has also been strenuously denied by the Chinese government and one of the labs.

But one expert, a chemical biology professor and bioweapons expert at Rutgers University, has suggested to several media outlets that the lab-accident theory has credence.

"The possibility that the virus entered humans through a laboratory accident cannot and should not be dismissed," Dr. Richard Ebright told CNN in an email Sunday.