What's really known about Covid?

To the editor:

Scientific research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was partially funded by the Anthony Fauci-led National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funneled the money via the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance.

These experiments were, in fact, very dangerous “gain of function” viral manipulation. Are the benefits of this research that might or might not naturally occur concerning the possible mutation of animal to human viruses, worth the cost of actually creating them? Does it actually make sense to engineer more infectious, deadly, drug-resistant pathogens using gain-of-function research to prevent future epidemics?

Does this sound a bit like the Frankenstein novel, genetically creating a laboratory-made virus that never naturally existed in order to prevent disease a bit crazy? Even more confounding is the fact that despite all this research, not one vaccine or treatment has actually been pre-emptive in either preventing or treating viral pandemics until after they have naturally occurred.

Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield told lawmakers that Dr. Anthony Fauci “sidelined” him from internal debates about the origin of Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic, saying the former White House chief medical advisor did not agree with his support of the so-called “lab leak theory.”

A Feb. 12, 2020, email released by the House Select Committee proves that Andersen, Fauci and Collins were “prompted” to write a study to debunk the lab leak theory. The email was submitted as an article to Nature Medicine, and published on Feb. 20, 2020. The article was cited by Fauci during a White House briefing exactly two months afterward, with Fauci never revealing his direct role in its creation.

Recently this has become exposed and is common knowledge.

A week later, the well-respected Lancet Journal — founded in England in 1823 as a peer-reviewed, general medical journal, and one of the oldest of its kind — published an open letter signed by 27 scientists and researchers. It was secretly coordinated by New York-based EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak, who advocated the hypothesis that Covid-19 spread naturally from bats to humans despite credible evidence to the contrary.

Daszal organized two open letters published in the Lancet Journal in February 2020, and again in July 2021. The letter was cited and repeated by many news media sources as proof that the “lab leak hypothesis” was a nothing but misinformation or anti-Chinese propaganda.

The published letter echoed the opinions of these scientists and researchers without any substantial evidence of the real origin of Covid-19, and without the benefit of U.S. government intelligence being able to contribute any information to the contrary. In sum they censored, condemned all discourse that contradicted their opinions on the origin of Covid-19, totally discounting the possibility of a laboratory accident.

Our news media has failed to report the role of Peter Daszak — a zoologist — as a who funneled millions to the Wuhan Institute through the NIH via EcoHealth. It has been remiss in reminding people that China obstructed 15 inspectors from the World Heath Organization from coming into China for more than a year. In effect, the Chinese Communist party was allowed to totally manipulate public opinion, build consensus based on political ideology, censorship, skewed scientific reports and paltry evidence.

This the same country whose unsanitary wild animal “wet markets” originated the 2002 SARS and 2012 MERS viruses.

We humans have already opened the mythic Pandora’s box, which was said to contain death, sickness and other horrific maladies. By assuming that Covid-19 was a natural occurrence, we have ignored and excused ourselves of the consequences of this dangerous research.

We have already developed nuclear weapons that, if used, will destroy all of humanity. Without a serious re-evaluation of this hazardous research along with much stricter safety protocols, the destruction of our species by a human engineered pandemic remains an alarming possibility.

Lou DeHolczer

EDITOR’S NOTE: Government agencies remain divided on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, primarily because of lack of transparency from the Chinese government. However, the general position from the federal government remains that Covid-19 was naturally occurring. The NIH has denied gain-of-function viral research, which has been banned since the Obama administration.