JUDY WOODRUFF: From the moment COVID-19 began to spread, there were questions about its
origin.
This week, there have been reports U.S. diplomats are concerned about a lab in Wuhan, China,
the city where the outbreak began.
Nick Schifrin examines what the U.S. knows, and doesn't know, about how coronavirus originally
spread.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today in Wuhan, the markets sell live animals. The shopkeepers insist
their product is clean and had nothing to do with the COVID-19 outbreak.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seemed to agree with the shopkeepers and raised on FOX News
last night another source.
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. Secretary of State: We know that this virus originated in Wuhan, China.
We know that there is that Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from
where the wet market was. There's still lots to learn.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The Wuhan Institute of Virology's Web site includes these photos showing off
its technology. U.S. officials tell "PBS NewsHour" they have long been concerned about lab security.
And they consider the possibility that COVID-19 was accidentally released by a lab employee
who was working with animals that carry coronaviruses.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: More and more, we're hearing the story. We
are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But the intelligence community has not concluded for sure that's what happened.
U.S. officials tell "PBS NewsHour" it's still possible the market was the source.
MARK ESPER, U.S. Defense Secretary: The results are inconclusive, if you will.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: We have had a lot of intelligence,
take a hard look at that. And I would just say at this point it's inconclusive.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Last month, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the us military
for spreading the virus. Chinese media have even blamed Italy.
Today, spokesman Zhao Lijian said it's too early to know the source, but denied it was
the lab.
ZHAO LIJIAN, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through translator): This is a scientific
issue which should be studied by scientists and medical experts. Many well-known medical
experts in the world also believe that claims of the so-called laboratory leaks have no
scientific basis.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And for more on this, we turn to Dr. Luciana Borio.
She served on the National Security Council staff as the director of medical and biodefense
preparedness policy during the first two years of the Trump administration. She's now a vice
president at In-Q-Tel, a nonprofit that funds technologies the intelligence community is
interested in.
Dr. Borio, thank you very much. Welcome to the "NewsHour."
Those two scenarios I just laid out, some kind of accidental release from a lab in Wuhan
and a possible release in the nearby wet market, are either of those still possible?
DR. LUCIANA BORIO, Infectious Disease Physician: That's right, Nick.
So, the national biodefense strategy that was signed by President Trump in 2018 contemplates
three general categories of biological threats, the deliberate threats, an accident from a
lab, exposure or release, and naturally occurring exposure.
We don't believe that the strain has any features that it was a deliberate event at all, really.
So, it's a natural strain.
Now, the question about whether the original human exposure that led to the pandemic initially
occurred in a laboratory setting or a wet market or something like that is going to
be very difficult to ascertain.
And we don't...
(CROSSTALK)
NICK SCHIFRIN: How would you -- sorry to interrupt you.
How would you ascertain that, if it is so difficult? What information would you need?
DR. LUCIANA BORIO: That's right.
So it might not be possible just through the scientific means and analysis of the strain.
It may need some other type of investigation that is being taken -- undertaken by the intelligence
community to see what other information may have been available with respect to communications,
for example, around the time.
But it may be very difficult. And we know that biological threats in general can be
very difficult to attribute in a potential source.
But, you know, there's -- again, either way, what we have to remember today is that we
have a pandemic on our hands, and the most important thing to focus on right now is to
contain it. There will be a time when we're going to be able to go back and say, what
happened?
And I have to say that there's more to do globally to minimize human exposure to wildlife
in those wet markets, because, clearly, they pose a threat to our security. And there's
also more that we have to do to be able to make sure that experimentations with pathogens
of pandemic potential, like coronaviruses, are done in a way that meet very stringent
biological safety standards.
NICK SCHIFRIN: So, obviously, there have been questions by U.S. officials about the safety
standards within these labs, as well as concerns that China isn't closing the wet markets.
Also among the U.S. concerns is the original virus, the original genome. When it comes
to actually finding out what happened, how important is it that China share information
that it has from patients, presumably from as early as December?
DR. LUCIANA BORIO: Yes, so the more information scientists have, the more they will be able
to understand this virus.
You know, there's a lot of work that was done early on, when a sequence was posed. It allowed
the development of diagnostic tests. Having the virus in the right hands in the right
labs can help facilitate product development.
So, it's very critical to information -- to share information about something that really
impacts the entire world, right, impacts everybody. And we have to be able to work together to
be able to contain it.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And lastly, in the 30 seconds or so we have left, your last point, we have
to work together to contain it.
How important is it, at the end of the day, to actually know the origin of COVID-19?
DR. LUCIANA BORIO: The most important thing that we have to do is to be able to stabilize
and restore our economic security and our health security.
So that's going to be the most important thing. We can't lose focus on that. We may or may
not be able to ascertain the origins. And, you know, the important thing is that we contain
this.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Dr. Luciana Borio, thank you very much.
DR. LUCIANA BORIO: My pleasure.