COVID 'most likely' leaked from Wuhan lab, social distancing 'not based on science,' select committee finds

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A congressional subcommittee concluded its two-year investigation on the coronavirus pandemic on Monday, finding that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and that social distancing and masking were not backed with scientific data.

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final 520-page report that stated "COVID-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China." 

In support of the "lab leak" theory, the report said the subcommittee learned that the virus had a biological characteristic that is not found in nature and that data showed all COVID-19 cases stemming from a single introduction to humans.

"By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced," the report says.

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Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus made a visit to the institute in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

The report also noted that China’s foremost SARS research lab is in Wuhan, "which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research at inadequate biosafety levels," and that researchers at the lab "were sick with a COVID-like virus in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market."

Initial rumors swirled at the beginning of the pandemic that China’s wet markets, which are known for selling meat, fish, produce and exotic animals in unsanitary conditions, were the origin of the virus.

The report stated there was "no conclusive evidence" that wearing masks protected Americans from COVID-19.  (Getty Images, File)

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The report also found that social distancing "was not based on science."

"During closed door testimony, Dr. [Anthony] Fauci testified that the guidance, ‘sort of just appeared,’" the report states.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was the White House Chief Medical Advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images, File)

Fauci was the public face of the federal government's coronavirus pandemic response. He has faced intense criticism for his handling of the pandemic.

The subcommittee also found "no conclusive evidence" that wearing masks protected Americans from COVID-19. 

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The measures led to long-term impacts on American adults and children. The report found that unemployment skyrocketed and children "lost decades worth of academic progress."