Clark
I think that having a laboratory escape is obviously something that has happened and been documented before and very important to acknowledge and to rectify. But what we are talking about here is a putative coverup by scientists who are top of the field, and with a team of workers and others aware of this and of collaborators across countries. It is one thing for a scientist to let their ambition cloud their work but it is a magnitude of difference to then delay any remedial work by denial. This is the difference between accidental homicide and culpable homicide. So what you are proposing is moving to the realms of a conspiracy theory, a group or team of scientists conspiring to have a coverup who are aided by their colleagues in other parts of the world.