While examining the claim and its source, I first noticed that it originated from a social media platform similar to Twitter called Bluesky Social. Social media platforms are often unreliable sources of information due to a lack of evidence. When looking at the post more, I noticed it had only one like and one repost. I then checked the website linked in the Bluesky post, called Political Film Blog. The website itself appeared very unprofessional, resembling a video game. There was no evidence provided, just more videos posted on Bluesky. I couldn’t determine the origin of the claims being made.
When researching whether COVID-19 was man-made, I found an article by the National Institutes of Health: National Center for Biotechnology Information. The website is a .gov domain, which tends to make it a more reliable source as it is associated with government institutions. The article stated that, although Donald Trump believes COVID-19 originated in a lab, all the evidence points to natural causes. It also mentioned various scientific groups that support this claim, such as research published in the journals Nature Medicine and Journal of Virology. Additionally, Yale Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have stated that COVID-19 appears to be directly linked to SARS, which resulted from natural genetic mutations.
I believe the original claim stemmed from the numerous conspiracy theories that emerged during the pandemic. In the search for answers, many people began conducting their own research and sharing opinions on social media platforms.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/9701/
https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/covid-19
https://www.cdc.gov/covid/about/index.html
