Where did coronavirus come from? 29% of Americans think it came from a lab, poll says

A new poll found that 29% of Americans believe the novel coronavirus was likely created in a lab, according to the Pew Research Center.

Forty-three percent believe the virus came about naturally and 25% say they aren’t sure about its origins, Pew researchers said in a news release.

Responses from those who didn’t answer or do not believe the virus exists were not included in the results..

The survey was conducted between March 10 and 16 as part of the Pew’s Election Pathways Project, which “examines how Americans’ news habits and attitudes relate to what they hear, perceive and know about the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” the release said.

Those who believe the virus was made in a lab differ on whether its creation was intentional. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they believe the virus was created on purpose, compared to 6% who say they believe it’s creation was accidental, according to the release.

The poll also indicated that young people are more likely to believe the virus was made in a lab, with 35% of people age 18-29 saying it was, compared to only 21% of people age 65 an older.

Researchers say education also played a large factor in responses with 61% of people with bachelor’s degrees saying they believe the virus came about naturally compared to 31% of those with a high school diploma or less, the release said.

The poll also found that Republicans and right-leaning Independents were more likely than Democrats to say the coronavirus was created in a lab, 37% to 21%.

Forty percent of conservative Republican polled said they think the virus was lab-made, more so than any other ideological group, researchers said.

Where did the coronavirus come from?

While researchers have not been able to scientifically verify exactly how the virus developed, most believe it was passed from animals to humans, McClatchy News previously reported.

The first human cases were reported in December 2019.

Health officials believe the outbreak likely started at an outdoor animal market in Wuhan, China, where dozens of workers fell ill, according to the report.

Do experts think coronavirus was made in a lab?

The virus show similarities to coronaviruses carried by horseshoe bats, and these similarities have led researchers to debunk theories that the virus is a result of biological warfare experiments in China, McClatchy reported.

A study publish on NatureMedicine last month also suggests the virus was not man-made.

“Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus,” researches wrote.

They say the “hook” portion of spike proteins that exist on the surface of the virus are too effective at attaching to human cells, suggesting that the proteins are a result of natural selection as opposed to genetic engineering, according to Live Science.

Researchers also found that the structure of the coronavirus is distinct from other known coronaviruses, more closely resembling viruses found in bats and pangolins that were not previously known to cause humans harm, according to the outlet.

“If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness,” researchers said in a statement.