Where did covid-19 come from? Was it the result of a zoological spill over as experts have suspected since the beginning or something more? Could it be possible, after so long, that former President Trump was right? Did this horrible virus that has taken so many lives and upended economies around the world, really emerge from a lab?
President Biden, yesterday, called for further investigation into the origins of Covid-19.This news comes days after the Journal exposed new evidence that suggests three scientists from Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November of 2019 with "symptoms similar to that covid-19 and common seasonal illness". That's two months before the news of a new infectious coronavirus had spread through Wuhan. Chinese officials continue to deny the claims that the virus some how escaped from the Wuhan lab. While continuing to question the intentions of U.S officials. According to the Journal China's foreign ministry stated, "the U.S. continues to hype the lab leak theory...is it actually concerned about tracing the source or trying to divert attention?"
The change in attitude regarding the origins of the virus by the Biden Harris administration has some news outlets eating crow. Last year when Trump came forward and stated that he had information that the virus had indeed come from a lab he was ridiculed and accused of spreading false information and conspiracy theories. Fox news was blasted for pushing these 'baseless claims' and many called for them to be removed for spreading 'false information.' Headlines such as the one found in The Washington Post from February of 2020 claimed that Republican Tom Scott, "keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked."
Facebook even took the extra steps to label all information that suggested that the deadly virus emerged from a lab as "false information" and removed the content from its platform. Yesterday a spokesperson from Facebook stated that they, "would no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 was man-made" from their platforms, "in light of on going investigations into the origins." Good for them coming forward like that and...admitting they were wrong?
If this last year has taught us nothing else it is that, science itself is an ever changing field of study and one that evolves as new information is gathered and data is studied. We went from being told that masks were not needed and that it would soon go away, just like the flu. To mask mandates, widespread lockdowns, quarantine, and a rapidly declining economy. Scientist spent the last year studying the virus and any safety measures that could possibly slow the spread. It was a completely new virus one that had never been seen by the medical community before and as doctors and scientist raced to learn more about it, their thoughts and views related to Covid-19 changed evolved. Experts still cannot agree upon the exact origin of the virus, with most evidence pointing to a naturally occurring zoological spillover. But one thing they can agree on is, that finding the origins of this coronavirus is critical if we are to the planning of any future pandemics.
If the experts who have studied it for over a year still can't agree, why were others so quick to dismiss it as misinformation or a conspiracy theory? Was it simply because Trump and the Republican party were the ones to suggest it? Was their disdain for the former President so great that they were able to look past the very nature of science itself? Is the 'misinformation' campaign that they have run against the GOP for the past year regarding Covid-19 to blame for the delay in tracing the origins of the virus? Perhaps those answers will prove to be as elusive as those about the the virus.