House subcommittee releases report on COVID-19's origins

After nearly two years of investigation, the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final 520-page report on Monday afternoon, putting into writing its conclusions about COVID-19’s origins. A committee press release characterized the report as the single most thorough review of the pandemic conducted to date.

Some of the report’s findings include:

1. The virus likely emerged from a laboratory or research-related accident. 
2. COVID-19 had a single origin, as opposed to multiple spillovers into the population. 
3. The Wuhan Institute of Virology had a history of conducting gain-of-function research—research designed to increase the functionality of a particular microorganism.
4. In the months leading up to COVID’s spread in 2019, several researchers at the Wuhan lab contracted the virus. 
5. The pandemic response was plagued by rampant fraud, waste, and abuse. 
6. Operation Warp Speed—the effort to develop a vaccine quickly and efficiently—was a success. 
7. Pandemic-era school closures will have a long-lasting impact on generations of American children. 
8. There was an international cover-up designed to hide the origin of the virus.

In a letter to Congress, subcommittee chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said he believes the report takes an important step toward identifying key areas for the government to address if this kind of a crisis ever occurs again. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights a distrust in leadership, Wenstrup wrote, adding that trust must be earned. He went on to say that any future pandemic will require a response that America as a whole can support. Those leading that response must be free of bias and must not benefit personally from the decisions that are made. Wenstrup added that America should learn from the mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic and do better going forward for the sake of future generations.

Over the course of its investigation, the committee heard testimony from 69 separate witnesses over the course of 25 hearings. Those interviews ranged from witnesses like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in June of this year, to John Ratcliffe, the former director of National Intelligence, in April of 2023.

What now? The committee will hold a markup on Wednesday to vote the report out of committee. If adopted, the report will be presented before the House of Representatives.

Dig Deeper: Listen to my reporting on how House lawmakers were split over the testimony of Dr. Anthony Fauci and whether the Wuhan Institute of Virology met the definition of gain-of-function research in its work.