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Comment by Steven Salzberg

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Johns Hopkins computational biologist
It's just as likely that a scientist or technician working at WIV was accidentally infected, and then went home (maybe stopping by the seafood market on the way) and started a worldwide pandemic.
AI Verified source (Feb 27, 2023)
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COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
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AI Verified The quote is directly about the statement’s core causal claim: it says a Wuhan Institute of Virology worker could have been accidentally infected and then started the pandemic, which is a lab-related origin scenario rather than natural zoonotic spillover. The source context also says the author is leaning toward the hypothesis that COVID-19 started at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, so the quote provides a clear, determinable stance signal on the complete statement. ([forbes.com](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2023/02/27/the-scientific-error-that-might-have-caused-the-covid-19-pandemic/?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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AI Verified The source context says the author had been "on the fence" but was "now starting to lean more strongly towards the hypothesis" that COVID-19 started at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the quote adds that a WIV worker being accidentally infected was "just as likely." That indicates a leaning toward a lab-related origin rather than a neutral or anti-lab position, even if not stated with full certainty. ([forbes.com](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2023/02/27/the-scientific-error-that-might-have-caused-the-covid-19-pandemic/?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

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AI Verified Verified: the Forbes page at the cited URL is indexed with the exact sentence, and the same result shows the article title, Steven Salzberg byline, and publication date of Feb. 27, 2023. That supports that the quote is real, verbatim apart from normal apostrophe typography, correctly attributed, and present at the source URL. ([forbes.com](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2023/02/27/the-scientific-error-that-might-have-caused-the-covid-19-pandemic/?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
replying to Steven Salzberg