GOP-Run COVID Panel Releases Conclusions

The House panel looking into the federal response to the pandemic released its final report on Monday, criticizing the lockdowns and other mitigation efforts while deciding the outbreak probably began in a lab in China. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic's chair, Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, said the panel "sent more than 100 investigative letters, conducted 38 transcribed interviews or depositions, held 25 hearings or meetings, and reviewed more than one million pages of documents." Dr. Anthony Fauci's appearance before the subcommittee in June was among its many contentious sessions. The conclusions listed in the GOP-run panel's 520-page report, per the Hill, include:

• The origin: The SARS-CoV-2 virus "likely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident," the report says. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence, and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have endorsed that theory, it says. There's no conclusive answer so far to the question; various federal agencies have reached various conclusions. The report accuses Fauci of maneuvers to counter the lab theory, which he denied.
• Mitigation: Lockdowns did "more harm than good," the report says, damaging the economy, Americans' health overall, and children's development. Science did not support social distancing as a help, it says: "Even though it was CDC guidance and not a mandate, it was forcefully implemented by state and local governments and caused lots of strife amongst Americans." Masks were ineffective at limiting the spread of the virus, the report says, though there have been studies that disagree. On the other hand, travel restrictions and public-private partnerships to provide widespread COVID-19 testing were beneficial, the panel said.

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