A classified intelligence report from the U. S. Department of EnergyA U. S. government that concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab leak could spice up those who hold the theory, but scientists say it would, in fact, possibly not end the debate. where the virus comes from.
In fact, some say a definitive answer may never be found.
“There are many cases of criminals without bloodshed that are never solved, despite intense efforts to do so, because they do not have enough evidence of what happened. I think we have a very similar scenario here,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
“We’ll never know. “
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global fitness law at Georgetown University and director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Laws at the university, agreed that the origin is very likely to ever be resolved.
“I think historians will look back and consider it one of the wonders of the pandemic,” he said.
Many scientists claimed that the virus had a plant origin, which is called zoonotic or herbal spread, meaning that the virus came from animals, mutated and jumped to humans, as happened with viruses in the past.
The lab leak theory suggests that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, who work with coronaviruses, would likely have studied or even changed those viruses to better perceive them, while one of them could have escaped from the lab.
Although first dismissed as a conspiracy theory, the perception of lab leakage is now noticeable through some in the clinical network as a street value at least exploring.
Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal published a report noting that the U. S. Department of Energy has been in the U. S. Department of Energy. The U. S. government, which oversees a nationwide network of labs, had concluded with “little confidence” that the pandemic began as a result of a lab leak.
The Wall Street Journal said the classified report was based on new information.
Previous intelligence reports imply that a low point of trust means that the data used in the investigation is “few, dubious, fragmented, or that no solid analytical conclusions can be inferred from the data” and can also mean that the intelligence network has significant considerations or disruptions with data resources.
John Kirby, the spokesman for the U. S. National Security Council. The U. S. government said Monday that lately there is no consensus within the U. S. government. The U. S. Department of Health and Prevention on how the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the origin of the virus is “most likely” the result of a lab incident in Wuhan, a position the firm reaffirmed in a tweet the same day.
#FBI Director Wray showed that the Bureau assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a laboratory incident in Wuhan, China. pic. twitter. com/LcBVNU7vmO
But Georgetown University’s Gostin said the new Wall Street Journal report doesn’t do much to clarify the debate because the Energy Department hasn’t said how it came to its conclusions about the coronavirus from a lab leak.
“They haven’t released any clinical or other evidence to support their theory,” Gostin said. “So I don’t know how anyone with this set of conclusions can come up with the concept that this validates this theory in any way. “
As for whether the virus came from the lab, Osterholm says researchers should have documented that the actual virus was in the lab, finding evidence that other people who worked in the lab tested positive for the virus and had been online. after being admitted to the laboratory.
Without that information, he said, “you can never go back and say that’s what happened there. “
As for evidence of an overflow of herbs, researchers discovered evidence of the virus among the animal population at the Wuhan wildlife market, which Osterholm said was not done.
“These two [scenarios] leave unanswered questions that we’re never going to answer,” he said.
Plus, Gostin said, identifying an origin when it’s been so long since the initial spread can be too difficult.
“The more time has passed, the more complicated it is to hint at the stages of origin,” he said.
Gostin also noted that the Chinese government, which has rejected the concept that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak, has prevented researchers from the World Health Organization and other independent research groups from accessing the laboratory, animal market, or Wuhan health and hospital system.
“And so, without being able to be on the ground, consult the archives, take genetic samples, it will be highly unlikely that this controversy will occur. “
In March 2021, a team of WHO researchers published a report in which we decided that it was “likely or very likely” that the coronavirus had a zoonotic source, meaning it was transmitted to humans from animals. They also concluded that the concept that a lab incident was the source was “extremely unlikely. “
But the report later criticized across the United States, Canada, members of the clinical network and other governments for the lack of access given to researchers.
Months later, the WHO announced that it had formed a new advisory organization: the Scientific Advisory Panel on the Origins of New Pathogens (SAGO). Its initial report released in June 2022 said more studies are needed on how COVID-19 started, adding more detailed studies of the option of it being a lab leak.
However, William Schaffner, medical director of the Maryland-based National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said the Chinese government was not absolutely open or transparent when the virus began to spread, and is unlikely to be so in the future.
“And I think we’re where Array is. . . We’re stuck,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll ever have a definitive answer that satisfies everyone. “
Senior Reporter
Mark Gollom is a reporter for Toronto CBC News. Il covers Canadian and American politics and affairs.
With The Associated Press
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