We first learned of the Coronavirus virus after a cluster of severe pneumonia cases were reported in the city of Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. Within weeks, person-to-person spread of the virus was confirmed worldwide. China claims COVID-19 originated at a crowded Wuhan wet market where customers buy fresh meat and fish, including live animals that are slaughtered when purchased. These crowded conditions can allow viruses from different animals to exchange genes and sometimes the virus mutates to the point it can infect and spread among people. Bats carry many coronaviruses and in the past 20 years several disease outbreaks have been linked to these bat-borne viruses. Presumably, this was the origin of COVID-19, as bats are sold there.

However, The Wuhan Institute of Virology - the first laboratory in China to receive the highest level of biosafety clearance – is located in close proximity to this wet market. This facility conducts research on some of the most dangerous known viruses, including the Ebola, Nipah and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever viruses. Investigations have shown the pandemic virus was not genetically engineered, but researchers know it was modified. Nevertheless, many people blame China for this global pandemic because it withheld the fact that the virus was capable of human-to-human transmission, and the Chinese government failed to stop its spread - allowing air travel to continue unabated while they were battling the outbreak.

One U.S. intelligence report disclosed that three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care in November 2019 for COVID-like symptoms, a month before China reported the first cases of the pandemic. Another government report recently criticized the National Institutes of Health for failing to provide adequate oversight of an American organization that funded controversial research at the Wuhan Institute, saying it should have better scrutinized its partner lab in Wuhan to ensure it was not using U.S. funds to conduct gain-of-function research, which boosts viruses to study how they might evolve in nature. A recent report by an international team of virus experts said they had found genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there, adding evidence to the case that the worst pandemic in a century could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being dealt through the illegal wildlife trade. However, other researchers believe this new theory fails to produce convincing evidence of a natural origin that rules out human involvement. They continue to believe COVID-19 resulted from a laboratory accident.

Proposed Legislation: Reintroduction of H.R.2273 - Chinese Government COVID–19 Accountability Act (117th Congress 2021-2022)
Prospective Sponsor: Rep. Gregory Steube (FL)