For SARS and MERS we had data within months.
We don't have data on animals because it was a lab-escape event.
The claim that lab workers got flu-like symptoms in late 2019 blew my mind.
I wish I had time to investigate myself, but I'm 90% convinced that the reporter is correct and this is a lab-escape event.
US government had many perverse reasons to believe things that turned out to be false.
I'm putting exactly zero trust in what US government says about what happens or happened in other countries especially those deemed by them as adversarial.
And even if such thing happened it's way more probable that it was just common seasonal illness.