The Washington Post editorial board is gathering both critical and positive response on social media after publishing an article on Friday calling for China to answer the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the paper, the board writes that although scientists have theorized that the deadly virus had spread from animals such as bats, the possibility of a laboratory accident or leak “needs to be investigated.”
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They referred to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) study of bat coronaviruses, noting that chief Dr. Shi Zhengli said the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus did not match viruses her team sampled.
“But that shouldn’t be the end of the story,” they wrote. China actively covered up the early stages of the pandemic, hiding the transmittability of the virus from its own people and the world, and punishing Wuhan doctors who expressed concern at the end of December 2019. President Xi Jinping did not warn the public in China. abroad until mid-January. “
The board pointed out that Chinese officials have since perpetuated “a host of dubious theories” to suggest that the origin of the COVID-19 virus is not in China.
“The disinformation only raises suspicions that China is trying to divert or hide something,” the council said, adding that for investigators to find out the truth whether or not there was a leak or a lab accident, transparency and verification of data and samples provenance “would be a necessity.
“But it didn’t materialize,” they added.
The board also highlighted that a critical bat coronavirus database and a portal of National Virus Resource Center databases have both gone offline – which Shi told the BBC for security reasons – and cited a claim by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US government had reason to believe that “several investigators within the IPH became ill in the fall of 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both covid-19 and common seasonal illnesses.”
“If the US government has information to confirm that statement, it should release it, including the disclosure of information,” the editorial wrote.
“We don’t know where the pandemic started. But an important step in finding the answer is to examine all the relevant databases and laboratory data, including those from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and elsewhere, and the clues they may contain,” said.
Twitter users responded to The Washington Post’s article, cheering and pledging the work.
“So stupid … @ PostOpinions,” one user wrote. “How do ‘journalists’ view the contradiction of (a) telling us lies about China 24/7 and then (b) constructing a story based on Chinese sources? [bio-attack] on Defender-Europe, and Wuhan was a Truman Show. “
“This seems uncritical to summarize DRASTIC’s claims, which seems to me like shoddy work,” stated a user. “And the” GOF “work in question has largely consisted of inserting the peak sequences of new coronaviruses into a well-characterized strain – arguably safer than working with the new virus itself.”
“It was nice to see the lab origins hypothesis of ‘mad science denier conspiracy theory !!!’ to mainstream academics / journalists asking the question, “a user tweeted.
“The obfuscating and [straight-up] The regime’s lies about the origin of COVID rightly succeed in mainstreaming questions about lab leaks, ” a user pointed out.
A bus carrying members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic will leave the airport after arriving at a roped-off area in the Wuhan International Arrivals Hall on January 14, 2021. Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP) (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP via Getty Images)
“I’ve seen so many studies on Covid # disinformation that include this as one item in their battery of disinformation. Serious question: Will these studies need to be adjusted as this is being shared by major news outlets? #Infodemic,” a user has replied.
“The ‘Wuhan Lab leak story’ is prominent [featured] on @ Wikipedia’s article about “COVID-19 misinformation,” they continued @washingtonpost spreading misinformation or is it no longer considered “misinformation”? Seems like a serious challenge #disinfo research, right? “
“But the news side at WaPo is still carefully ignoring the topic,” one user said in response to the @ WashPostPR account.
“Bravo, @washingtonpost! You did a good job in this editorial. Thanks,” exclaimed another user.
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“Finally asking the right questions”, they wrote.
Previous coverage from The Washington Post about China’s role in the pandemic has been mixed.
A December piece by columnist Marc Thiessen – who is also a contributor to Fox News – posed the question, “Can we finally blame the Chinese communist regime for the Covid-19 pandemic?”
Twitter users criticized Thiessen for even asking: call it “drivel.”
The Washington Post’s “Monkey Cage” political team wrote in a September article that President Trump’s attempt to “shift blame for the pandemic by targeting China with anger” was an “old strategy.”
It is remarkable and horrifying that racially motivated hate crimes against Asian Americans have soared during the pandemic – a statistic many claim was fueled by Trump’s rhetoric, made-up terms like the ‘Kung Flu’ and ‘China Virus.
For months, Republican lawmakers and then-President Trump have led the effort to hold China accountable for the pandemic’s devastating consequences.
Alternatively, some Democrats, such as then-candidate Joe Biden, have rebuked the Trump administration – although it is noteworthy that those in the Blue Dog Coalition have introduced a bill to prevent China from exploiting the pandemic.
On January 6, The Washington Post wrote that politics itself was the real culprit hindering attempts to get real answers, with Duke-NUS Medical School’s expert on zoonotic diseases Wang Linfa saying that any progress was much more difficult would be because ‘politics is ahead of science. now.”
In January, a team of researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) traveled to Wuhan to start an investigation, visiting the Huanan Seafood Market and the IPH.
The Trump administration filed a notice of withdrawal from the agency after criticizing the pandemic’s handling, but Biden reversed that decision last month.
China is openly opposed to the independent investigation, and State Department spokeswoman Hua Chunying has revived unfounded calls for a WHO investigation into a US military laboratory in Maryland.
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“If America respects the truth, please open up Ft. Detrick and disclose more information about the 200 or more biolabs outside the US, and please let the WHO expert group go to the US to investigate the origins,” Hua said.
Last week, the US hit a stark milestone, more than 450,000 deaths from the virus over the course of about a year.
According to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, more than 2.3 million people worldwide have died from the COVID-19 virus to date.
China is accused of under-reporting its case numbers.