Had a reply to @AngrierWHStaff gain traction so I’ll expand. My partner is part of a group of healthcare providers who email each other re various medical discussions.
There are pathologists, internists, PCP, CRNAs, NPs and researchers.
They work across several institutions
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There are around 30 on the email list. They have been emailing about COVID-19. I will not be posting any id info.
A pathologist emailed and I’ll paraphrase and add some basics.
He recently published a high scientific overview of Covid-19 though some info is now dated
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Privately he thinks a strain of the virus has been bouncing around the world between animals and humans for the past year. It didn’t make people all that sick because it wasn’t that hardy. Docs will often shrug their shoulders and not investigate a viral infection if a patient

Is not that sick. Treatment doesn’t change much for viral infections that don’t cause secondary problems (eg pneumonia).
He thinks at some point in October that the virus picked up the ability to replicate faster, attach to cells better or survive environment better
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That is the strain we are seeing now.
He’s says viruses mutate all the time but only occasionally the mutation helps it kill us. Only at that point will it really come on the radar of health professionals. There are tons of viruses only a few are really deadly
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Basic evolutionary biology. He was concerned about MERS and SARS but knew they wouldn’t spread worldwide given transmission type and early response. He has long been concerned that one of those viruses would mutate to spread better and that’s what he thinks kinda happened.

He doesn’t have real scientific research to back up his theory. It would take more funding, knowledge and lab equipment than he has. The is not a virologist that studies this stuff on a level to figure it out. There are smarter people than him probably already working on origin