COVID Cover Up

Accused

Dr. Anthony Fauci

Accuser

Senator Rand Paul

Key Allegation

Concealment of U.S.-funded gain-of-function research outsourced to China

Broader Context

COVID-19 origin debates, lab leak theory

Alleged Consequence

Erosion of public trust, fueled vaccine hesitancy

Source of Allegation

Book "Deception, The Great COVID Coverup" by Rand Paul

Research Type (alleged)

Gain-of-function research

Funding Source (alleged)

U.S.

Location of Research (alleged)

China

In March and April, Congress passed four major bills addressing COVID-19: (1) the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, an USD $8.3 billion bill that provided funding to states and localities for COVID-19 preparedness and response; (2) the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which addressed insurance coverage of coronavirus testing, paid sick leave, nutrition assistance, and unemployment benefits; (3) the CARES Act, which included more than USD $150 [...] 7. Lack of entitlements to care may have affected access to testing, treatment and outcomes. Coronavirus coverage for the uninsured has not been easy to obtain. This may lead to delays in testing and treatment (Khatana and Groeneveld, 2020). This may be particularly damaging for racial and ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 (Azar _et al_., 2020). [...] On 16 March, President Donald Trump implemented a 15-day voluntary national lockdown (Figure 1). The guidelines limited mass gatherings to 10 people, advised against discretionary travel, and recommended closure of schools, dine-in restaurants, bars, and other public places. The CDC also advised all Americans to wear cloth face coverings in public areas such as grocery stores. The lockdown was subsequently extended to 30 April.

Overall mentions of COVID-19 began to rise after The Wall Street Journal published a story about the Energy Department report on Sunday. Since then, mentions of various COVID-related conspiracy theories have soared, according to an analysis conducted by Zignal Labs, a San Francisco-based media intelligence firm, and shared with The Associated Press. [...] But others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree, and there’s no consensus. Many scientists believe the likeliest explanation is that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 jumped from animals to humans, possibly at Wuhan’s Huanan market, a scenario backed up by multiple studies and reports. The World Health Organization has said that while an animal origin remains most likely, the possibility of a lab leak must be investigated further before it can be ruled out. [...] WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19’s origins remain hazy. Three years after the start of the pandemic, it’s still unclear whether the coronavirus that causes the disease leaked from a lab or spread to humans from an animal. This much is known: When it comes to COVID-19 misinformation, any new report on the virus’ origin quickly triggers a relapse and a return of misleading claims about the virus, vaccines and masks that have reverberated since the pandemic began.

On March 31, Birx reiterated the projection of 1.5 million to 2.2 million deaths if government officials did nothing to stop the virus, compared with 100,000 to 240,000 deaths if measures such as social distancing were taken. As April began, various state and local officials, including the mayors of New York and Los Angeles, and the governors or health departments of Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island encouraged residents to wear non-medical cloth face coverings while in public, as an [...] additional measure to prevent unknowingly infecting others. The CDC issued a similar recommendation on April 3. Health officials generally advised against the use of medical-grade PPE (such as surgical masks and respirators) by the general public, preferring to save them for healthcare personnel due to shortages. [...] Suppression of whistleblowers

Figure 4 Image 9: figure 4 Cross-country differences in the fraction of respondents indicate that COVID-19 is a result of deliberate and concealed efforts of some government or organisations. Full size image [...] (2020)."),7."). While CTs emerged shortly after the first news of COVID-19, they skyrocketed when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the spread of coronavirus to be a pandemic on 11 March 2020. During lockdowns, the usage of social media has increased. Such platforms as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have become major vectors for the dissemination of COVID-19-related CTs8."), leading to a unique “infodemic” and general mass suspicions about what is going on9. [...] ").