By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold –
A headline in a CNN report on May 5th, 2020 read: "Anthony Fauci just crushed Donald Trump's theory on the origins of the coronavirus."
Stated in the CNN report: "For weeks now, President Donald Trump has been making the case that the coronavirus originated not in nature but in a lab in Wuhan, China. He said late last week that he had a " high degree of confidence" that was what happened (although he didn't specify why he felt that way) and on Sunday night in a Fox News Town Hall offered cryptically "something happened."
The CNN article then mentions Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, wherein CNN cites Fauci as perhaps the single most prominent doctor in the world on infectious disease.
As to Anthony Fauci's crushing blow on Donald Trump's theory on the origins of the coronavirus, the article referred to Fauci's interview with National Geographic, where Fauci was definitive about the origins of the virus.
According to Dr. Fauci: "If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated … Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.”
Fauci also cautioned against the rush of states to reopen.
Accuracy of CNN report questioned
There are several problems with this report, starting with the fact that Dr. Fauci has a vested interest in the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). It is probably true that the COVID-19 virus or it’s genesis was endemic in bats. Due to natural immunities, various cononaviruses, including SARS and its variant COVID-19, are hosted by bats, and occasionally mutate to the point they can infect humans. The similarity between COVID-19 and infections found in bats has been confirmed independently in various western laboratories. This is the point at which Dr. Fauci stops his narrative, but there is more to the story. Much more.
One of WIV’s objectives is to identify animal-borne viruses which can potentially infect humans. Part of this research is called “Gain-of-Function”, which explores ways in which the infectiousness of a virus can increase, either naturally or by artificial stimulation. The ostensible reason is to develop treatments and vaccines which will be effective even if the disease mutates to a more virulent form in nature.
This does not mean the virus is “synthetic,” even though its properties have been enhanced synthetically. Nor does it mean COVID-19 was developed as a biological weapon. However, the only distinction between epidemiological research and bio-weapon development is intent, not process. One thing is certain. The virus did not spread from bats, which live over 200 miles from the center if infection in Wuhan and were not present in the “wet market” blamed by the Chinese government.
Assuming COVID-19 was released from a civilian laboratory accidentally, through careless handling and isolation, it could spread very quickly. Early estimated of its virulence were that one person could infect nearly 6 others, with a latency of about 2.5 days. That means over 4000 people could be infected as a consequence of one source in the course of one month, and each of those could infect another 4000, ad infinitum.
Epidemiological data is slowly trickling in (collection being largely neglected by those in charge) which indicates 9 out of 10 infections go without symptoms. Furthermore, between 20% and 50% of some populations tested show evidence of silent infections, over 10 times the number of acute cases requiring hospitalization.
Most of the US infections probably occurred between the middle of January and the end of February, while there was considerable traffic between the US and Wuhan China – over 400,000 persons. Little notice was taken of its inroads in the US until March 1, and stay-at-home policies were not widely enacted until March 16. The effect of “social separation” is equivocal, since it is likely that COVID_19 was a “community borne” disease before the doors were shut on the economy.
Behavior of the Chinese government subsequent to the explosion of COVID-19 in Wuhan is suspicious. Travel in and out of the Wuhan province and other parts of China was shut down early in January. On the other hand, international travel to and from Wuhan continued unabated until the US shut it down at the end of January; Europe followed suit in the next week or so.
Were the Chinese simply maintaining a “business as usual” posture, trying to save face, or expressing ulterior motives? Do not discount “Saving Face” as a prime motivator. Retirement for disgraced public officials in China does not come with a golden parachute. The practice of exploiting a crisis for political gain is not exactly unknown in the US.
Is it any wonder why The White House has blocked Anthony Fauci's testifying in front of a House Committee? Such an appearance would indeed by "counterproductive", for Fauci seems intent on establishing policy that is not consistent with the Trump administration.
Fauci reportedly will be allowed to appear at a later Senate hearing.
