Last weekend the Wall Street Journal reported on new classified intelligence that has led the U.S. Energy Department to conclude, albeit with “low confidence,” that the COVID-19 pandemic may have started in a Wuhan lab after all.
Reactions from opinion shapers have been pouring in ever since. Here are 10 notable quotes from the flurry.
Anthony Fauci, MD, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:
We must all keep an open mind to all possibilities. … We may not ever know [the true origin of the COVID-19 pandemic]. … I don’t see any data for a lab leak. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t have happened.”
Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to China:
China will have to be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis” [if the US and China are going to be able to work together].
Marty Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins and former editor-in-chief of MedPage Today:
Ultimately, overwhelming circumstantial evidence points to a lab leak origin.”
Jon Stewart, comedian and commentator:
I wasn’t waiting on the Department of Energy to weigh in on this. The larger problem … is the inability to discuss things that are within the realm of possibility without falling into absolutes and litmus-testing each other for our political allegiances.”
Jonathan Chait, political columnist at New York magazine:
The temptation to use ideological criteria to settle scientific questions is one that ultimately poses a threat to science itself. The correct way to follow the science is to actually follow it—not to use it as a mascot or as a justification to place your own views beyond criticism.”
Mao Ning, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson:
COVID tracing is a scientific issue that should not be politicized. … [The United States should] stop defaming China [by raising the lab leak theory].”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), ranking member, subcommittee on criminal justice and counterterrorism:
[B]eing proven right doesn’t matter. What matters is holding the Chinese Community Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again.”
Jake Sullivan, White House national security advisor:
[There is] not a definitive answer [on the origins of the virus.] President Biden has directed repeatedly every element of our intelligence community to put effort and resources behind getting to the bottom of this question.”
Eunice Yoon, CNBC reporter fluent in basic Mandarin Chinese:
China Communist Party paper warns Elon Musk against pushing COVID-19 lab leak theory. Posts on social media: ‘Elon Musk, are you breaking the pot of China?’ (‘Breaking the pot after eating’ is Chinese for ‘biting the hand that feeds you.’)”
Dr. Anthony Hinton, consultant surgeon retired from the U.K.’s National Health Service:
Whatever the origin of COVID—lab leak or wet market—the massive overreaction of many western countries … is inexcusable. Lockdowns, vaccine passports & mandates, denial of early treatment and natural immunity. Never again.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.