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. After 18 months of extensive research and analysis, a US Senate Committee has recently concluded that: “The preponderance of circumstantial evidence supports an unintentional research-related incident.” More recently, a stunning statement by the former head of China's Centre for Disease Control said the possibility the Covid virus had leaked from their Wuhan laboratory should not be ruled out.

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