Why A Lab In Wuhan Is Worth A Closer Look As A Possible Source Of The Pandemic – By Avia Schneider (NPR) / May 27 2021
The idea that the coronavirus could have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China — instead of jumping from animals to humans — was dismissed as a conspiracy theory by many scientists a year ago. That has changed now.
As Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday: “The historical basis for pandemics evolving naturally from an animal reservoir is extremely strong. And it’s for that reason that we felt that something similar like this has a much higher likelihood. No one knows, not even I, 100% at this point, which is the reason why we are in favor of further investigation.”
Dr. Céline Gounder, an infectious disease expert who served on the Biden transition team’s COVID-19 advisory board, agrees.
Even if the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the less likely origin of the outbreak, “this needs more investigation,” she said Thursday in an interview with NPR’s Rachel Martin on Morning Edition. “And saying that this needs more investigation doesn’t mean the virus leaked from a lab. But we need to investigate that and figure that out because it really does have implications for how we’ll prevent the next pandemic.”
