Cal, you can tell the same story in a great many different ways, but this one will still have the same basic narrative: The Chinese let out a deadly virus from a lab:
https://www.snopes.com/news/20...
I think I have already made it pretty clear why I call it a rumor. Some would prefer to call it a conspiracy theory.
CDC, that I believe you said you trust, does not mention a Chinese lab as the source, but instead says this:
"Early on, many of the patients at the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China had some link to a large seafood and live animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread."
https://www.cdc.gov/coronaviru...
