Fauci admits Covid lab leak theory is 'not a conspiracy theory' during Congressional grilling

Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci acknowledged in a Congressional hearing on Wednesday that there is credibility to the lab leak Covid origin theory, in addition to maintaining that he is “not convinced” that school closures backed by his agency harmed children, particularly in regard to their education.

During a second day of being grilled by Congress, the former Chief Medical Advisor said that the notion that the Covid virus was designed by people and then emerged from a Wuhan lab was "not a conspiracy theory," the Daily Mail reports. 
 

"He testified that the lab leak hypothesis — which was often suppressed — was, in fact, not a conspiracy theory," Ohio Rep Brad Wenstrup said of Fauci’s testimony.

The 83-year-old man appeared before the House coronavirus subcommittee for a second seven-hour time block of questioning on Wednesday, speaking on the US government's response to the Covid outbreak and the various issues seen by it.

He said that data did not back guidelines to stay six feet away from other people and that vaccine mandates, which he had supported, likely pushed more people away from being injected.

Fauci had that the six-feet-apart rule was not inspired by scientific data, and that it really had "just sort of appeared," according to the outlet.

While it is apparent that Fauci has backpedaled on many of his previous claims, he maintains the status quo when it comes to his view on shutting down the education of American children. 

“He says he’s still not convinced that there was learning loss — that in his view, that’s still really open for discussion,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), who sat on the closed-door panel, told the New York Post.

“I think [if] you ask any parent, they’ll tell you it was a major hit on their child’s development,” Cloud said.

Fauci has previously lied about his pro-shutting down schools position, telling the New York Times Magazine in April 2023, “Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did.”

Footage of Fauci's own remarks, however, paints a different picture:

Cloud said that Fauci demonstrated an “amazing ability to either forget what happened or then to find ways to shirk any sort of responsibility for the influence that was had,” during his marathon session.

​​“They wash their hands of any sort of responsibility, saying, ‘Oh, those decisions were made by school districts.’ But the school districts know, if you don’t follow the guidance that’s coming out of the federal government, you open yourselves up to lawsuits,” Cloud explained.

Statistics released by the US Department of Education in September 2022 revealed that reading ability among nine-year-olds shot downwards at the time of the Covid-19 lockdowns, bottoming at the lowest point seen in 30 years, while math scores also plummeted for the first time since a half-century of tracking began. 

Fauci's time as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was riddled with various controversies. Recently, a 2018 study published by a campaign group in October revealed that Fauci's NIH had conducted experiments with coronaviruses and bats over a year before the global outbreak of Covid-19 at the agency's Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana.