Topline
Politicians and some government agencies continue to contend the Covid-19 pandemic started as a leak from the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, even as scientists and public health officials say the evidence points to it naturally emerging from animals at a food market in China.
People wearing protective masks and suits carry trash bins during disinfection work at Huanan … [+]
Key Facts
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday the U.S. Department of Energy assessed with “low confidence” the Covid pandemic originated from a lab leak, resparking debate about the coronavirus’ origins (it’s still unknown what the Energy department’s evidence of a lab leak is).
In 2017, the National Intelligence Community said the term “low-confidence” means the “reliability of the sources is questionable,” or the information’s “credibility and/or plausibility is uncertain.”
Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation agrees with the DOE on a lab leak being the likely cause of the pandemic, they are in the minority—CNN reports most intelligence services either believe the the origins of Covid occurred naturally, or there’s not enough evidence to make a decision.
China denied these claims and accused the U.S. of spreading lies, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying in a press briefing on Monday certain parties should “stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing.”
A “lab leak” origin of the Covid pandemic has long been a pet theory of politicians like then-President Donald Trump, who said in 2021 a lab leak theory “seems to make sense,” even as scientists continue to find more evidence supporting the disease’s natural origins.
The theory Covid spread from a lab leak has been continuously disputed by scientific experts, like the authors of an analysis published in Nature Medicine, who said they “do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.”
The first known cases of Covid were reported in Wuhan in December 2019, and the disease has since claimed the lives of over 6.8 million people, with the U.S. making up around one million of those deaths.
Crucial Quote
“The pandemic began via at least two zoonotic spillovers from animals sold at the Huanan market” in Wuhan, China, Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a top virologist and co-author of several studies on Covid-19’s origins, said in a statement on Twitter. “Not a lab, not a cave, not a dentist’s office. This is not our opinion. This is original, evidence-based research that withstood a tough peer review.”
Gain-Of-Function Experiment Theory
The theory the coronavirus was spread via a Chinese lab leak has been suggested by several public figures, like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who claimed without evidence the outbreak occurred due to National Institute of Health-backed research on coronavirus. That research, called gain-of-function, is a virological method involving the changing of virus genotypes and their resulting phenotypes, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. In 2021 the Intercept obtained documents that found U.S.-based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance used grant money awarded by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to fund gain-of-function research by Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Wuhan University Center for Animal Experiment. This research intentionally made the viruses studied more transmissible in order for scientists and researchers to better understand them (Dr. Anthony Fauci—then director of the NIAID—told Congress in May 2021 the NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”)Fear that this research was the result of the Covid pandemic spread. However, several scientists confirmed to the Intercept the experiment cannot be directly linked to the pandemic and none of the viruses studied were closely enough related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid.
Animal Testing Theory
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was one of the first high-profile figures to tout the claim of the pandemic originating from a lab, whether accidentally or intentionally. Though he later acknowledged he didn’t have evidence to support this theory, Cotton doubted Covid was spread from an animal “wet market” in Wuhan that sells meat, fish and produce, pointing out that Wuhan also is home to a bio research facility. The Wuhan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has done extensive research on viruses found in bat caves, though the agency hasn’t disclosed which specific viruses. Video of a Wuhan team canvassing a cave catching bats and collecting samples in search of new diseases and vaccines circulated around the time the first patients who contracted the novel coronavirus were hospitalized. Shi Zhengli (also known as “bat-woman”), a professor at the Wuhan Institute, released a 2021 study stating her team found eight coronavirus strains in bats in 2015. These findings led to many people concluding the pandemic was sparked by a lab leak. The World Health Organization released a report in 2021 attributing the spread of the coronavirus to Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The report also labeled the theory that a lab leak was the cause of the pandemic as “least likely hypothesis.” According to a separate WHO report, the Wuhan CDC denied any storage or laboratory activity with bat viruses prior to the pandemic.
Why Scientists Think Covid-19 Spread At A Market In Wuhan
A pair of 2022 studies published in Science looked at the possibility of the Covid pandemic emerging from a wet market in China. One of the studies linked the first known cases of Covid to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. It pinpointed one section of the market where live wild animal vendors congregated and where virus-positive environmental samples were located. And 66% of the 41 patients initially hospitalized with an unknown pneumonia (later confirmed to be infections of the novel coronavirus) in January 2020 had direct contact with the market. Several animal species (such as mink, wild boar and red fox) sold at the market were “susceptible to SARS-related coronaviruses,” leading researchers to conclude the Covid pandemic had a zoonotic origin (meaning the virus spread from animals to humans). The second study linked the spread of two different Covid variants to two people who visited the market and spread the virus to their respective communities. A separate study published in Nature found animals at the market were kept in poor conditions and butchered using illegal methods. These conditions make the perfect breeding ground for viruses like the coronavirus to fester.
Suprising Fact
Most notably, that last study debunked the theory bats were the cause of the pandemic as they were not traded at the market.
Further Reading
U.S. Government Divided On Covid Lab Leak Theory—Here’s Where Each Agency Stands (Forbes)
Coronavirus Likely Emerged In Wuhan Market, New Studies Find (Forbes)
China Responds To Lab Leak Report—Says U.S. Is ‘Politicizing’ Search For Covid Origins (Forbes)
Timeline: How The Covid Lab Leak Origin Story Went From ‘Conspiracy Theory’ To Government Debate (Forbes)
Here’s What Dr. Fauci Has Said About Covid’s Origins And The Lab Leak Theory (Forbes)
A Timeline Of The COVID-19 Wuhan Lab Origin Theory(Forbes)
Covid Likely Originated From Lab Leak, Energy Department Reportedly Finds—But Biden Aide Says There’s No ‘Definitive Answer’ (Forbes)
