On the origins of the virus, Redfield continued: “I am of the opinion that I still think that the most likely ideology of this pathogen in Wuhan was that of a laboratory. Escaped. Other people don’t believe that. That’s nice. Science will eventually find out. It is not uncommon for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect the laboratory worker. “
Redfield’s comments came after a WHO team concluded last month that the virus was “extremely unlikely” to have leaked from a Chinese laboratory – specifically, the Wuhan Institute of Virology – and most likely transmitted to humans from an animal. The WHO team is expected to release a final report on its findings in the near future, although doubts remain as to whether its investigation was sufficiently free and open.
Most scientists also believe that the virus developed naturally and, at some unknown point, went from an animal to a human – just like two related viruses, SARS and MERS, have done in the past two decades. But many experts say they cannot completely rule out the possibility that the virus has escaped from a laboratory, although they consider such an unlikely scenario.
Since the initial Covid-19 outbreak in the United States, several high-profile conservative commentators, Republican lawmakers and former Trump administration officials have promoted the theory that the virus has leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, offering little evidence to support its claims. . they seek to blame the Chinese Communist government for spreading the disease. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) Are among the main proponents of the laboratory’s theory.
Redfield emphasized on Friday that his assessment of the virus’s origins “did not imply any intentionality” on the part of the Chinese government. But he reiterated that he does not believe that the virus “somehow went from a bat to a human and, at that moment … it became one of the most infectious viruses we know in humanity, for transmission from person to person”.
The former CDC director explained that normally, when a pathogen transmits from an animal to a human, “it takes time to figure out how to become increasingly efficient in transmitting from person to person. I just don’t think it makes biological sense ”for the virus that causes Covid-19, he said.
But Redfield suggested that the increase in viral efficiency could have been grown in a laboratory setting: “Yes, let’s just say that I have coronavirus and I’m working on it. Most of us in the lab are trying to develop viruses. We try to help make it better and better and better and better and better, so that we can do experiments and find out about it. That’s how I put it ”.