OPINION:
There is one aspect of the coronavirus, COVID-19, that has been mentioned in passing by some reports but not addressed directly: namely, the idea that it is not a naturally occurring virus but rather one that was developed or in the process of being developed in a lab near the city of Wuhan, China. And rather than coming from the eating of raw snake meat or some similar exotic animal, did it come from an accidental release from that lab, either by an escaped test animal or by an employee who was inadvertently infected?
There are aspects of this virus that lend credence to the notion that it is a weaponized virus, most notably the fact that it can be spread by an infected person for days if not weeks before they show any symptoms of the illness. Added to that is the fact that the Chinese are unwilling to allow outside medical personnel to examine the supposed source of the virus. The identified food that the Chinese point to is not something that most Westerners have in their diet, and it makes the idea that this is the source of the illness more easily accepted without much examination by the average individual. Medical scientists, on the other hand, want to examine the origin of the virus in greater detail.
While I agree with those who see little to be gained by pressing this source issue with the Chinese at the risk of losing what little cooperation they are providing, there are things we could be doing now. Specifically, we should add some of our own biological-weapons experts to Vice President Mike Pence’s task force. They could be looking at the data on the spread of COVID-19 from their perspective. We might get some insight as to what we might expect next on the spread of the virus.
The recent sudden spread of this virus in Italy and other countries calls for the U.S. to take all efforts to head it off before it becomes an epidemic here.
DENNIS DOYLE
Woodbridge, Va.
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