Agency Says Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19

[Ocelot II]

15. Yes, exactly.

It's important to know where the virus came from - whether it came directly from animals into the human population or if it escaped from a lab. If it came from animals more research is needed about animal-human transmission; if it was a lab error we should know how that happened, too. China's response to the pandemic has been less than transparent, regardless; but that certainly doesn't justify the anti-Asian racism it stirred up, with the implication that the Chinese deliberately released the virus, not that it escaped from a lab due to human error. As you said, human error can occur anywhere, and by anyone. The holes in the Swiss cheese model need to be identified and closed up.

James Reason proposed the image of "Swiss cheese" to explain the occurrence of system failures, such as medical mishaps. According to this metaphor, in a complex system, hazards are prevented from causing human losses by a series of barriers. Each barrier has unintended weaknesses, or holes – hence the similarity with Swiss cheese. These weaknesses are inconstant – i.e., the holes open and close at random. When by chance all holes are aligned, the hazard reaches the patient and causes harm. This model draws attention to the health care system, as opposed to the individual, and to randomness, as opposed to deliberate action, in the occurrence of medical errors.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1298298/#:~:text=According%20to%20this%20metaphor%2C%20in,open%20and%20close%20at%20random.