Free Republic

The debate over the origins of the coronavirus has largely been conducted in the West, despite the fact that the pathogen originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Chinese authorities have officially maintained a vague stance, meant largely to deflect criticism. Meanwhile, scientists who may hold clues to how the pandemic began — likely sometime in late 2019 — appear to have been silenced. That changed ever so slightly this week, when George Gao, the former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, offered his thoughts on the contentious question to a BBC podcast.

Dr. Anthony Fauci corresponded with a Chinese health official early in the pandemic, acknowledging the “crazy people in this world” and vowing to “get through this together,” a new report revealed Tuesday. The nation’s top expert on infectious diseases received an email March 28, 2020, from George Gao, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in which Gao apologized for saying the US and other countries were making a “big mistake” by not encouraging people to wear masks from the get-go, according to correspondence obtained by the Washington Post. “How could I say such a word ‘big...

To mask or not to mask, that is the question. But scientists now think you may want to put a face mask on it after all — if you have one. Their advice is laid out in a new report in Science Magazine. People in Asian countries have been wearing masks for months, which the head of the Chinese Center for Disease and Prevention supports. In the US, face masks are in short supply and government officials want the rapidly dwindling supply saved for health-care professionals. “This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact. Droplets play a very important...