Pathways of spread of covid-19 0:42
(CNN) -
There is still controversy about the origin of covid-19.
The Science:
Scientists agree that COVID-19 probably spread to people through one or more animals.
That was the conclusion of a preliminary study by the World Health Organization on the origins of the virus published in March.
In it, four possible theories of origin are exposed and it is argued that the most probable is some form of transmission from animal to human and that the virus is of natural origin.
WHO calls for a 'reality check & # 8217;
as global covid-19 cases rise for the seventh week in a row
Many questions remain, but introduction of the virus from a laboratory was "an extremely unlikely route," according to the report.
This is not a definitive proof, but it certainly calls into question the theory that the virus was the result of some kind of Chinese research gone wrong.
Intelligence:
spies are not so sure.
"It is totally correct to say that the intelligence community does not know exactly where, when or how the covid-19 virus was initially transmitted," US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, after exposing theories that either the virus was somehow transmitted from bats to humans, or it is also plausible, he argued, that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology failed an experiment.
advertising
The laboratory theory
Rubio's question followed a statement by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the final days of the Trump administration that there was evidence that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology had fallen ill in the fall. of 2019 with symptoms similar to those of covid and that the Wuhan laboratory, where the coronavirus had been studied in bats, had a history of military research.
Responding to Rubio, Haines did not refer to one theory as more likely than another, but said that intelligence agencies have "coalesced around two alternative theories": These scenarios are and arise naturally from human contact with infected animals or was a laboratory accident ”.
Don't trust China
CIA Director William Burns wanted to add that China might be hiding something.
"One thing that is clear to us and to our analysts is that China's leaders have not been fully forthcoming or fully transparent."
But they are trying to get to the bottom of the matter.
14 countries and WHO director accuse China of hiding data from the investigation into the origins of the pandemic
The director of the National Security Agency and Chief of the US Cyber Command, Gen. Paul Nakasone, noted that US cyber agencies are collaborating in the effort and continue to collect and analyze information on the origin of the virus.
But he insisted that intelligence agencies are working with partners from "interagency and academia," which presumably means scientists and experts.
About the WHO study
The official stance of the US government has never coincided with the WHO study, which was conducted by 17 experts from China who worked with 17 international experts under the observation of a UN panel. The United States joined several other developed countries in raising concerns about the WHO-convened study and advocating for a more open system to study future outbreaks.
There are some scientists who believe in the laboratory theory.
Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who ran the center during the first year of the outbreak as a member of the Trump administration, told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta in March , that his personal opinion, which he admitted is not shared by all, is that the virus originated in a laboratory.
Covid-19 comic theory
Scientists who study viruses in practice are highly skeptical of this view.
"That's how it would be in a movie or some kind of thriller or comic," Tulane's Robert Garry told CNN's Maggie Fox after Redfield shared his opinion.
Garry helped write a study published in March 2020 showing that the virus arose naturally.
"Science will eventually find out," said Redfield.
Dr. Mauricio González: "It is very unlikely that covid-19 was created in a laboratory"
That's how it is.
It will not be the United States intelligence agencies that determine the origin of the virus.
But there is definitely a feeling in the US intelligence community that China is not trying to get to the bottom of the matter.
Will we ever know the truth?
"In China there is no interest in knowing the truth, so it is difficult to spy on them and find out what it is," a source familiar with intelligence told CNN's Zachary Cohen and Alex Marquardt in March, adding that there is evidence that the market Wet Wuhan may not have been the place where the virus was first transmitted.
Chinese officials have reported misleadingly on the matter.
A diplomat, in March 2020, accused the US government of having somehow sent the virus to Wuhan.
China promotes the theory that covid-19 originated in a US laboratory
Publicly, the Biden administration, like the Trump administration that preceded it, has criticized China for not being more open about the virus when it was first spreading in 2019 and 2020.
We will finally know the truth
NBC's Chuck Todd asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken if he could guarantee that we will finally understand how the virus originated.
"I think we have to, because we need to do it precisely to fully understand what happened to have the best possible chance of preventing it from happening again," Blinken said.
Freedom from public health
See the video below.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan was willing to discuss Covid restrictions with Dr. Anthony Fauci, arguing that Americans have endured an abrogation of their freedom and rights.
Dr. Fauci: My recommendations are based on science 1:53
Unusually, Fauci seemed a bit annoyed.
“We are not talking about freedoms.
We are talking about a pandemic that has claimed the lives of 560,000 Americans, "said Fauci.
Jordan interrupted him to say that he understands that, but that it is also “quite serious that businesses are closed, that people cannot go to church, that they cannot meet in their own home with their friends, with their family, that they cannot Go to the funeral of a loved one, who cannot address his government, who cannot ask his representative to repair his grievances.
I also understand that the First Amendment is very important and a year has passed… I want to know when Americans will regain those First Amendment freedoms.
From there, things evolved.
Jordan wanted a specific number of vaccines to ensure the end of the restrictions.
Fauci didn't offer exactly one, but said that as vaccinations increase, infections will decrease.
Progressives and Democrats differ on some important policies
Democratic leaders and even older progressives have disagreed in recent days with some of the more radical ideas brewing among liberals on Capitol Hill.
We are not prepared not to have more police.
Now that Minnesota faces the death of another black man killed by police, Daunte Wright, and also the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib argued that the whole concept of police and imprisonment and militarization.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent and progressive leader from Vermont, declined to accompany her during an appearance Wednesday on CNN.
He advocated for immediate and "very, very important" police reform, but not for the end of the police.
Expand the Supreme Court
Progressive lawmakers in the House and Senate do agree that the Supreme Court should be expanded to counter the conservative majority that is likely to run that institution for decades to come.
Lawmakers introduced a law to expand the size of the court.
The proposal has almost no chance of being approved by the Senate, so a vote in the House would be symbolic.
Still, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she has no plans to allow a vote on the matter.
Rather, it is waiting for a commission supported by President Biden to study the issue.
He is not ready to retire.
Many Democrats want liberal Judge Stephen Breyer to step down now so that a Biden-appointed judge can replace him.
Here's a great article by CNN's Joan Biskupic on the history of pressuring judges to step down.
Related to this:
A new book suggests that then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denied Pelosi's request that the body of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg rest in the Capitol Rotunda.
The Trump test.
Finally, the Democrats are not the only ones with rough edges.
Chris Cillizza writes about the political price Rep. Liz Cheney has paid for being one of the few Republican legislators to unequivocally distance herself from former President Donald Trump.
She maintains that this shows that she has discovered something about how toxic Trump is to the general electorate that other Republicans apparently have not understood.
Anthony FauciCovid-19OMS