Anthony Fauci on COVID-19 originated from a lab-related …

Anthony Fauci

Former director, US NIAID

Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.

AI Verified source (May 5, 2020)

3mo ago

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COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover

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AI Verified Relevant: in source context, Fauci is answering whether SARS-CoV-2 was made in or accidentally released from a Chinese lab, and the quote says it "evolved in nature and then jumped species," directly addressing lab-origin versus zoonotic spillover and making a determinable stance substantially more likely. ([nationalgeographic.com](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified The quote directly opposes the statement: Fauci says the virus "evolved in nature and then jumped species." In the article’s surrounding Q&A, he also rejects the lab-escape version, saying that if it was brought from the wild into a lab, "it was in the wild to begin with." ([nationalgeographic.com](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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AI Verified The provided National Geographic URL contains the exact quoted sentence attributed to Fauci, and the article is published May 5, 2020. A contemporaneous CNN transcript also says Fauci "tells National Geographic" that same sentence, corroborating the attribution. The stored author, date, source URL, and quote text are correct. ([nationalgeographic.com](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 3mo ago

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Anthony Fauci abstains

COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover

I feel, based on the data that I have seen, that the more likely--not definitive--but the more likely explanation is a natural spillover from an animal reservoir. But since there has not been definitive proof one way or the other, we have to keep an ...

more AI Verified source (Jun 3, 2024)