On federal government websites, the White House replaced some COVID-19 information with a webpage promoting the lab leak theory on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Two websites, covid.gov and covidtests.gov, previously featured resources on testing, treatment and vaccination. They now redirect to a declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a “lab-related incident” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Three things to know:
1. The new webpage asserts that Anthony Fauci, MD, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, worked to suppress the lab leak theory. It also questions the practices of social distancing, mask mandates and lockdowns.
2. Under the Biden administration, the Energy Department reported that a lab leak was the most likely cause of the pandemic, though officials said the conclusion was made with “low confidence.” The World Health Organization has said all hypotheses on the origins of the virus are viable.
3. The two leading theories concerning COVID-19’s origin are a lab leak or a zoonotic jump from animals to humans.
In April 2023, Senate Republicans published a 300-page report that said the Wuhan Institute of Virology had biosafety issues around the time COVID-19 emerged, suggesting an unintentional lab leak. Other reports have found associations between the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and animals. In September, Cell published a study that linked the virus to genetic material from hundreds of swabs taken inside the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China.
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