On March 1st, FBI chief Christopher Wray commented on the bureau’s investigation of COVID-19, stating that it “most likely” originated from a government-controlled lab from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. This came after a recent Department of Energy assessment stated that the virus likely came from a lab leak though it did so with “low confidence.” The FBI, on the other hand, made their assertions with “moderate confidence.”

This claim was made by the Department of Energy after new intelligence was discovered, prompting the organization to reverse its initial position that the virus’s origin was undecided. Though this new information was not publicly disclosed, it is likely that this was deduced through the Department of Energy’s network of national laboratories rather than traditional espionage. 

Though the FBI and the Department of Energy both promoted such theories, four other US agencies are still under the belief that COVID-19 has its origins in natural transmission from animals to humans in a wet market. 

Wray, in an interview with Fox News, further claimed that China had made efforts to obstruct the FBI’s investigation. 

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government seems to me has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here the work that we’re doing the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing,” Wray said. “And that’s unfortunate for everybody.” 

However, division remains over the true origins of COVID-19. Many scientists and politicians have maintained that the virus emerged from a food and animal market, including Democratic politicians. Additionally, congressional reports disseminating intelligence on the matter have been conflicting. Following the Republican majority in the House of Representatives in last year’s election, a congressional subcommittee was established to prioritize investigating the lab leak theory on the virus’s emergence. 

“I think that there are massive repercussions in the sense that it stirs up a lot of political fear and is quite divisive as a statement,” Rose Tyvand, AP Chemistry teacher, said. “And so I would hope that they would only make a public announcement like that if it’s based in a lot of fact. I would hope also for anyone who gets really get scared about this and starts thinking anti-Chinese sentiment that they realize probably whatever the Chinese are doing, the Americans are doing as well.”