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Trying harder to look guilty, Wuhan update. First from the State Dept for some recently declassified background,

https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/

Starting in at least 2016 – and with no indication of a stop prior to the COVID-19 outbreak – WIV researchers conducted experiments involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus identified by the WIV in January 2020 as its closest sample to SARS-CoV-2

The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses. This raises questions about the credibility of WIV senior researcher Shi Zhengli’s public claim that there was “zero infection” among the WIV’s staff and students of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-related viruses.

…then they destroyed all the WIV research records as previously mentioned, and only now, after extensive delays and excuses and over a year later, they are finally letting a China-approved list of WHO investigation team members to visit, including a US virologist with strong ties to WIV and a huge personal stake in allowing their type of research to continue. He has also, of course, been shilling for China and his own interests this whole time with unsupported claims in academic journals…

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-world-needs-a-real-investigation-into-the-origins-of-covid-19-11610728316

Several scientists also told us they were troubled by the presence on the WHO team of Dr. Peter Daszak of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance. Dr. Daszak has been a longtime collaborator of Dr. Shi since they worked together to trace SARS viruses to bats after the 2003 epidemic.

Last February, Dr. Daszak organized a statement in The Lancet, a prominent medical journal, to “condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 doesn’t have a natural origin.” The statement was drafted when little was yet known about the virus.

“The independence of the WHO investigation may be seriously compromised by the process used to choose investigators…. In particular, the choice of Dr. Daszak, who has a personal stake in ensuring current Chinese practices continue and who is a longtime collaborator of a scientist at the center of the investigation, is likely to taint its results.”

I’m sure he’ll find that there’s no way to be sure of the origin and the best thing to do is continue funding his research with lots more money to understand these kinds of viruses so we can be prepared for the next one (that he or his careless Chinese collaborators might unleash on the world).