State Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses
Two years before the novel coronavirus pandemic upended the world, U.S. Embassy officials visited a Chinese research facility in the city of Wuhan several times and sent two official warnings back to Washington about inadequate safety at the lab, which was conducting risky studies on coronaviruses from bats.
The cables have fueled discussions inside the U.S. government about whether this or another Wuhan lab was the source of the virus ― even though conclusive proof has yet to emerge.
In January 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing took the unusual step of repeatedly sending U.S. science diplomats to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which had in 2015 become China’s first laboratory to achieve the highest level of international bioresearch safety (known as BSL-4). WIV issued a news release in English about the last of these visits, which occurred on March 27, 2018. The U.S. delegation was led by Jamison Fouss, the consul general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the embassy’s counselor of environment, science, technology and health. Last week, WIV erased that statement from its website, though it remains archived on the Internet.
Texas hospital says man, 30, died after attending 'COVID party' The man, 30, told his nurse, 'I think I made a mistake'
A Texas hospital says a patient who was a healthy young man died from coronavirus after attending a “COVID” party.
The unidentified 30-year-old man died at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, according to the hospital’s top doctor, Jane Appleby.
“This is a party held by somebody diagnosed with the COVID virus, and the thought is people get together to see if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected,” Appleby said, NBC 4 San Antonio reported Friday.
