Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Los Angeles Times

    Michael Hiltzik: US government debunks COVID lab-leak conspiracy theory, enraging conspiracy theorists

    by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times Jun 29, 2023 5 minutes
    Members of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus, arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021.

    That sound you may have detected rising from the ether of social media this weekend was the gnashing of teeth by COVID conspiracy-mongers, outraged by a U.S. government report debunking their most cherished claims.

    The long-awaited report released Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, put the lie to the theory that the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID, leaked from a virology lab in Wuhan, China, where the disease was first detected in humans.

    The lab-leak conspiracists were certain that the report would validate their contentions, for which there has never been any valid scientific evidence.

    Instead it did just the opposite.

    The report was issued in response to the COVID-19 Origin Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in March. The act required the intelligence community to declassify all information on the topic in its possession, save information that could compromise national security or intelligence-gathering sources and

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Los Angeles Times

    Los Angeles Times4 min read
    LA County Captures 96 Billion Gallons Of Water During ‘Super Year’ Of Storms
    LOS ANGELES — Heavy rains this winter and spring sent torrential flows down local creeks and rivers, and L.A. County managed to capture and store a significant amount of that stormwater, officials say. To be exact, they snared an estimated 295,000 ac
    Los Angeles Times2 min read
    Facing A 'National Emergency,' South Korea President Urges Citizens To Have More Babies
    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced this week that he would create a new government ministry to tackle the country's low birth rate, which he called "a national emergency." The ministry will serve as a specialized "con
    Los Angeles Times2 min readCrime & Violence
    'Let Her Go! Let Her Go!' California Police Officer Shoots Armed Man Who Put His Partner In A Headlock
    LOS ANGELES — The traffic stop started off calmly. Two Fontana police officers pulled over a black sport utility vehicle in Yucaipa, and a male officer asked the driver about what appeared to be a missing front license plate. They chatted about campi

    Related Books & Audiobooks