The doctor. Anthony Fauci stated in an interview with CNN on Thursday that an email he received on 2020 from a lab funder in Wuhan about the origins of Covid is being “misunderstood.”
Fauci offered an explanation in an email from him from February 2020 that minimizes the need to wear a mask.
Earlier this week, media outlets such as CNN, BuzzFeed News and The Washington Post obtained thousands of emails that Fauci sent and received from that the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases became a household name early last year.
In an email sent to Fauci last April, an executive from the EcoHealth Alliance, the global nonprofit organization that helped fund some research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China thanked Fauci for publicly stating that scientific evidence supports the natural origins of Covid and not a laboratory origin.
The origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID – 19 remain unclear.
” There are some of his critics who say that this shows that he has an overly welcoming relationship with the people behind the Wuhan lab research, ”CNN’s John Berman told Fauci in New Day. “What do you say to that?”
“That’s nonsense,” Fauci replied. “I don’t even see how they get that from that email.” Fauci then emphasized that the email was sent to him, noting that the origins of the coronavirus are still uncertain.
“I have always said, and I will tell you today, John, that I still believe that the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human, but I keep an absolutely open mind that if there may be other origins of that, there may be another reason, it could have been a laboratory leak, “ said Fauci to Berman . “I think if you look historically at what happens at the animal-human interface, in fact, you are more likely dealing with a species jump. But I keep an open mind all the time. And that is the reason why I have made public that we must continue looking for the origin. ”
“ You can misinterpret it however you want: that email was from a person who said ‘thank you ‘so whatever he thought I said, and I said I think the most likely origin is a species jump. I think it is, while keeping an open mind that it could be a lab leak. ”
In another email sent to Fauci On 16 April, NIH Director Francis Collins, wrote that “the conspiracy theory gains momentum ”, a reference to the laboratory leak hypothesis. But much of the email is redacted and Fauci said he did not remember its content.
“They only took a few 10, 000 emails, of course I remember. I remember the 10, 000. Give me a break ”, said Fauci . “I don’t remember what’s in that wording, but I think the idea is pretty far-fetched that the Chinese deliberately designed something so that they could kill themselves, as well as other people. I think that’s a bit far-fetched, John. ”
Berman also mentioned an email that Fauci sent on February 5, 2020 to Sylvia Burwell, former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in which she did not recommend wearing a mask since she was traveling to a low-risk location.
The email was sent at a time before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic and before the CDC advised the public to wear masks to protect themselves.
“A lot has happened since then. If you had to go back and do it all over again, would you tell him something different? Do you regret that? ” Berman asked Fauci .
“Of course, if we had known back then that a substantial amount of transmission was from asymptomatic people. If we had known that the data shows that masks outside of the hospital setting actually work, when we didn’t know then. If we had realized all those things back then, of course, “he said. “You’re asking a question, ‘Would you do something different if you knew what you know now?’ Of course people would have done something different. That’s so obvious. ”