Is Omicron Also a Lab Leak?

Back when the OG version of Covid dropped, it was considered sacrosanct that the virus emerged naturally. It was one of those evil "conspiracy theories" to even hint that it may have leaked from a lab and Facebook and YouTube went so far as to censor any discussion of that possibility.

Then Nicholas Wade's 10,000+ word expose blew the lid off of that nonsense. Now most people accept that Covid-19 probably leaked from a lab after a gain-of-function research project (partially funded by the US government) went wrong and leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Today, the Omicron variant has displaced the Delta variant in many places. Omicron appears much more likely than previous variants to infect vaccinated individuals (possibly more likely than for the unvaccinated in general). Fortunately, it also appears to be substantially more mild. Omicron may be that final "endemic" stage of a pandemic when a virus (usually) mutates to become more infectious and less virulent as would be to its greatest advantage evolutionarily speaking.

Either way though, evidence is accumulating that Omicron is, like its predecessor, a human invention that leaked out of a lab. This time, assuming this theory is correct, it was at least a lab working on potential solutions to the Covid-19 pandemic instead of an insane gain-of-function experiment.

As PhD data scientist Jonatan Pallesen points out:​

1. It is based on a variant last seen in mid-2020. That is a very odd path for a virus to evolve naturally. But a normal one if it was investigated in a lab since then. pic.twitter.com/TfzDErQqwG

— Jonatan Pallesen (@jonatanpallesen) December 30, 2021

3. There are many indicators that it has a mouse origin.

It could be from wild mice. But Bayesianly, given that it's exactly mice and not some other animal, this makes lab origin more likely.https://t.co/9dqGZksdcc

— Jonatan Pallesen (@jonatanpallesen) December 30, 2021

Animal reservoir could be a possibility. The old variant would be passed to the animal reservoir, and then later back again.

But given 1-3 above, lab leak seems more likely overall.

— Jonatan Pallesen (@jonatanpallesen) December 30, 2021

Of course, I can't say for certain myself and am no expert on the matter. Perhaps Omicron went from humans to mice then back to humans naturally, as one recent paper suggests. But that also describes a lab leak. Jonatan's case is compelling and it lines up with the arguments of popular Substack medical writers Eugyppius and el gato malo. 

It would also, sadly, make sense given the glaring recklessness of the global medical research establishment. If Covid and the subsequent response has proven anything, it would be that.