Department of Energy now concludes that the Coronavirus pandemic was a lab leak from Wuhan China

 

The Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fox News. 

The Department of Energy now concludes that the Coronavirus pandemic was a lab leak from Wuhan China. Fox News. The Energy Department was previously neutral but has joined the FBI in saying that the pandemic was a lab leak. The information was obtained from a top secret report that was provided to congress. The theory was dismissed as a "conspiracy theory" during the early stages of the pandemic. Republicans in congress blasted the report, which first appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Other government agencies disagree that the lab was the source of the virus. 

My Comment:

I'm kind of surprised that this is making the news again. I had generally considered that the lab-leak theory is the default position for most people now. It's only not mentioned for the same reason that we don't recognize that Taiwan is an independent country. Because if we do we will upset China and nobody has the courage to do that. 

I never thought any other theory was that credible in the first place. The coronavirus that caused the pandemic was evolved from a virus only found in bats that live thousands of miles from Wuhan, where the pandemic started. But there were several research labs in Wuhan that were a very likely source. And given China's low safety standards it would not be a surprise if it had happened that way. 

Though Republicans are making noise about punishing China I know that nothing much will happen. Even if 100% irrevocable proof was provided China would not face any kind of retribution for what they did. There is zero energy in the Biden White House for dealing with China as they are focused on Ukraine to the exclusion of all other topics. 

What congress should do is to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again and they could do that by banning gain of function research on new viruses. The pandemic would have never have happened if they hadn't been allowed to do this. Of course, America had already banned gain of function, which is why the research was outsourced to China in the first place. We know that Congress isn't going to do anything to China so they should fix whatever loophole allowed this to happen in the first place. 

As for the pandemic itself, it has largely been forgotten. I know that I have zero concern about catching the virus at this point since it isn't that much worse than a bad cold or a weak flu now for the vast majority of people. Other than people questioning who is responsible for this it's largely a non-issue now.