Thread by @KatherineEban

Today, a @WSJ story disclosed that US Dep't of Energy has concluded #COVID19 "most likely arose" from a lab leak, citing classified intel recently provided to @WhiteHouse and key congress members. Some thoughts on where this revelation leaves us: 🧵👇 wsj.com/articles/covid… /1

It does not mean #COVID19 necessarily came from a Wuhan lab. Rather, it underscores the need for ongoing investigation into an open question: did #COVID19 spill over from an infected animal at a Wuhan market, or result from an accidental lab leak? @WHO has long been clear: /2

Both hypotheses remain possible. Any claim that the question is settled, in either direction, is untrue. But as I first reported for @VanityFair back in June 2021, Qs about a lab leak were sidelined early on inside the US gov't: vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/t… /3

Any serious researcher who has delved into #COVIDorigins - and not just taken at face value that natural spillover origin is settled science - can readily see important Qs needing further investigation. Was Wuhan Institute of Virology conducting risky research with inadequate /4

safeguards/depleted expertise? Did US scientists working w/ Chinese scientists inadvertently transfer expertise or resources, that led to unintended consequences? Did US fail in regulating a grant system that may have funded risky or dual-use research? vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/n… /5

Were some of the early assertions of a market origin being made by scientists with undisclosed professional & financial interests: vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/t…. Terrific reporting on this topic has been done by @fastlerner @MaraHvistendahl @jimmytobias and others. /6

#COVIDorigins has become a 3rd rail, leaving responsible journos with steep hill to climb: to strip away vile conspiracy theories w/ no factual basis (COVID19 as a Fauci-made bioweapon); while contending w/ claims that animal origin is case-closed, no need to look further. /7

Asking whether US scientists/funding agencies have full picture of what occurred at Wuhan Institute of Virology is not to say that scientists there are evil, corrupt, or lying. But are they free to discuss the details about research taking place there? /8 @zeynep

Today's @WSJ story by @@mgordonwsj and Warren Strobel underscores that the lab leak hypothesis is a legitimate one that demands continued investigation. /End