U.S. Department of Energy Concludes Wuhan Lab “Most Likely” Source of COVID-19
Sunday, February 26, 2023
The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic "most likely arose from a laboratory leak," according to a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
In March 2020, Professor Arthur Waldron — the Lauder Professor of International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania — writing exclusively for GoLocal, asserted that the Wuhan Lab was the likely source of COVID-19.
The shift by the Energy Department, which previously was undecided on how the virus emerged, is noted in an update to a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The new report highlights how different parts of the intelligence community have arrived at disparate judgments about the pandemic’s origin. The Energy Department now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still judge that it was likely the result of a natural transmission, and two are undecided,” according to the WSJ.
The new finding is consistent with what China expert Waldron wrote.
Waldron wrote in part in GoLocal, less than four weeks after Rhode Island's first case, "The holocaust in China since December has now done previously unimaginable harm, with tens of thousands or more infected in the nation and a death rate comparable to SARS, bringing much of China to a panicky halt. And now there are hundreds of thousands – or more – cases in the world, and many thousands of deaths as the pandemic rolls on."
The new Energy Department conclusion is the result of new intelligence and is significant because the agency has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.
According to the WSJ, the Energy Department made its judgment with “low confidence,” according to people who have read the classified report.
The FBI previously came to the conclusion that the pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak in 2021 with “moderate confidence” and still holds to this view.
Related Articles
- “COVID-19 Probably Originated in a Wuhan Lab”—Professor Arthur Waldron
- As Wuhan Lab Investigation Heats Up, Brown Prof Makes Plea to U.S. to “Stop Harassing Scientists”
- Moderna Seeks Emergency Use Authorization for COVID Vaccine for Children 6 Months to 5 Years
- EDITORIAL: Time to Shut Down RI - Save Lives By Being More Like China, Less Like Italy
- UPDATED: CDC Confirms Spread of Coronavirus in U.S., Impact Growing in China
- 7 Major Coronavirus Developments — Brown Prof. Flagged China’s False Numbers in Feb — April 17, 2020
- CDC Advises U.S. Travelers to Avoid All Nonessential Travel to China Due to Coronavirus
- The High Price of Resistance to COVID-19 Vaccinations - Horowitz
- RI Sees Increase in COVID Hospitalizations and Transmission Rate; Health Director Urges Boosting
- McKee Orders RI Flags Lowered in Respect for 1 Million COVID Deaths in U.S.
- As COVID Rises in RI, Health Dept. Official Quits and Criticizes McKee Administration’s Response
- COVID Outbreak in Warwick Tax Collector’s Office Forces Closure
- RI Counties Move From CDC’s “Low” to “Medium” Tier for New COVID Infections
- Whitcomb: Afternoon Light; Uneasy About Urbanites; Obesity and Cars; Spring Covid Surge?
- COVID Vaccine Booster is Crucial for RI’s Protection Against Omicron
- FDA Authorizes Second Booster Dose of Two COVID-19 Vaccines for Over Age 50
- COVID Numbers Are Beginning to Rise in Rhode Island
- Nation’s First Federally-Supported COVID “Test-to-Treat” Site to Open in Rhode Island
- NEW: FDA Authorizes COVID Vaccines for Children as Young as 6 Months
- CDC Director Walensky Cancels Trip to RI After Testing Positive for COVID
- ACLU Questions CVS’ Collection of COVID Booster Shot Data
- RI Man Who Pleaded Guilty to COVID Unemployment Benefits Fraud Sentenced to 30 Days
- CDC Announces Negative COVID-19 Test Requirement from Air Passengers Entering the US from China
- “Long-Covid” Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Lifespan by Former Employee in Federal Court
- McKee Tests Positive for COVID, Will Isolate for 5 Days
- Rhode Island Nurse Surrenders License for Submitting Falsified COVID Vaccine Card
- McKee: COVID Vaccines for Children Under 5 to be Available in RI Starting Next Week
- CDC Recommends Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Adults
- President Biden Tests Positive for COVID
- Biden Tests Positive Again for COVID — “Rebound” Case Forces Isolation
- Bill Introduced to Have RI Offset Loss in Federal COVID SNAP Benefits to Families
