Thread by @Ayjchan

It would be a huge letdown if the coming US-based #OriginOfCovid investigation does not ultimately lead to more insight into how the pandemic started.

Finding the origin requires looking into places where evidence is likely to exist, not just people who pushed a nature origin.

Finding the #OriginOfCovid is challenging enough without dealing with the sideshow of some scientists who squashed public discussion of the lab leak theory. Honestly, it would only help them to paint the investigation as anti-science if they become the focus of the investigation.

An investigation should spend as much of their efforts as possible on gathering incontrovertible #OriginOfCovid evidence.

Without that, the chances of holding people accountable for trying to rule out a lab leak prematurely are low because they will keep insisting "no evidence".

I'm not saying to not hold some scientists accountable but you can already predict the 2023 headlines depending on the strategy of the investigation, e.g., "Pandemic heroes and science under attack by GOP" or "GOP #OriginOfCovid investigation not backed by scientists".

Why not "Congressional investigation unearths key evidence for the pandemic's origin" instead of "Multi-year investigation fails to find any new evidence for the pandemic's origin"?

The latter scenario would even be seen (and reported) by many as vindication of the scientists who called a lab #OriginOfCovid a conspiracy theory because the GOP would've then conducted a full investigation and still failed to find any evidence that the virus came from a lab.

If investigators wish to vindicate the scientists who tried to shut down the lab leak theory, please focus your entire investigation on them and not actually finding evidence for the #OriginOfCovid