The China Syndrome Part I: Outbreak - Quillette

The China Syndrome Part I: Outbreak - Quillette: Note: This is the first part of a four-part series of essays looking in detail at China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic. This part looks at the circumstances surrounding the initial outbreak; Part Two will look at the discovery of human-to-human transmission and the immediate response; Part Three will investigate allegations that the pandemic began in a “wet market” or that the virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan; Part Four will examine charges that China falsified its pandemic data. Links to subsequent instalments will be added here as they are published. Introduction According to a poll conducted in France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US at the end of March, a majority of the population in each of those countries believes that China is at least somewhat to blame for the pandemic and, in both the UK and the US, a plurality believe it’s significantly to blame. Another survey taken in the US at the end of April found that a plurality of people believe that SARS-CoV-2 was probably or definitely created in a lab. At …