The coronavirus wasn’t made in a lab. A genetic analysis shows it’s from nature

An unfortunate coincidence fueled conspiracy theorists, says Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University in New Orleans. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is “in very close proximity to” the seafood market, and has conducted research on viruses, including coronaviruses, found in bats that have potential to cause disease in people. “That led people to think that, oh, it escaped and went down the sewers, or somebody walked out of their lab and went over to the market or something,” Garry says.

Accidental releases of viruses, including SARS, have happened from other labs in the past. So “this is not something you can just dismiss out of hand,” Andersen says. “That would be foolish.”

So if the idea that the virus escaped from Wuhan Institute of Virology would be "foolish" to "dismiss out of hand" why disparage the people who raise the question and concern as "conspiracy theorists"?

Seems a bit unfair to me and counter to purpose. Moreover, the modern phenomenon of "conspiracy theorist" is a manifestation of rank skepticism and doubt in the culture today -- not a euphemism for reasonable speculation or inference based on evidence. Of course I would be a "conspiracy theorist" if I now claimed that Mr. Garry has been compromised by the forces of evil and in on the conspiracy too.

Personally, I am glad that they took the time to rule this out because it was one of my concerns. I also look forward to another independent lab confirming the results to rule out the possibility that Mr. Garry is in on the conspiracy ;-)