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Saturday, May. 22, 2021

Has the Biden White House declined to speculate about the origins of the coronavirus?

Lisa Freedland, Gigafact
yes

The Biden administration says it continues to press China to cooperate with efforts to track down the source of the coronavirus, but declines to join in widespread speculation about how the pandemic began. “We don’t have enough information at this point to make an assessment,” Jen Psaki, the president’s chief spokesperson, said in a May 20, 2021, briefing.

Some scientists say the theory that the virus “leaked” from a research lab in China, either intentionally or accidentally, is worth investigating given circumstantial evidence. Some politicians, including former President Trump, have openly endorsed that theory.

”We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data,” a group of scientists wrote in a recent letter published in a leading U.S. academic journal.

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