A new Senate report conducted by two doctors and GOP staff concludes “the preponderance of circumstantial evidence supports an unintentional research-related incident” that led to the release of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The 300-page report, titled “Muddy Waters,” was compiled after Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and staff reviewed more than 50,000 documents. “This document was the product of a multi-disciplinary effort by medical, scientific, legal, political and general policy analysts to catalog open source (unclassified) information relevant to the respective theories,” the report says.
“This report concludes most likely this was two leaks,” Marshall told reporters. “The possibility of a lab leak in the September-October [2019] time frame, even as early as July or August, was followed by vaccine development in November 2019. And then another lab leak seems to be the most sensible explanation in this retrospective review.”
“The information contained in this Source Reference Document reflects 18 months of extensive research and accompanying analyses of these two plausible hypotheses,” the report says. “Experts have put forward two dominant theories on the origins of the virus. The first theory is that SARS-CoV-2 is the result of a natural zoonotic spillover. The second theory is that the virus infected humans as the result of a research-related incident. … Both hypotheses are plausible.”
The report examined claims that the virus emerged naturally, known as “zoonotic spillover.”
“The natural zoonotic spillover hypothesis is weakened by the absence of key epidemiological and genetic data from the Huanan Seafood Market. However, data required to support a natural zoonotic source is dependent on information provided by China, and that is incomplete or contradictory,” the report says.
“Epidemiological and genetic molecular analyses of the early published circulating Wuhan [COVID-19] strains supported the possibility of two spillover events two or more weeks apart,” the report says.
“This assessment was made based on minor genetic differences in early circulating strains suggesting that two lineages of the same virus may have emerged simultaneously and progressed on different paths or sequentially separated by some period of time. One lineage showing more mutations than the other implying it had been circulated longer than the other or had potentially passed through more individuals.”
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Then the report drops the hammer. “The preponderance of circumstantial evidence supports an unintentional research-related incident,” the report concludes.
The new report dovetails with what former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Robert Redfield said last month. The doctor’s testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic laid out a fascinating timetable.
“In September 2019, three things happened in that lab,” Redfield said in the hearing. “One, they deleted the sequences. That is highly irregular — researchers don’t usually like to do that. Second, they commanded the command and control at the lab from civilian control to military control. Highly unusual.”
“And the third thing they did, which I think is really telling, is they let a contractor redo the ventilation system in that laboratory. There is strong evidence there was a significant event in that laboratory in September 2019,” the doctor said.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.