WHO DISMISSES LAB LEAK THEORY AFTER MISSION TO WUHAN, CHINA
Group no closer to finding origins of coronavirus
After a 12-day visit, a World Health Organization mission to Wuhan appeared no closer Tuesday to solving the mystery of the pandemic’s origins, reiterating that the coronavirus likely spread to humans from an animal and casting doubt on theories it leaked from a lab.
The group’s findings — more than a year after the initial outbreak and after months wrangling between China and the U.N. health agency — could be a small step toward understanding the roots of a global crisis.
But the update is unlikely to satisfy U.S. officials and others around the world calling for greater transparency from China — or to silence questions about whether the Geneva-based WHO is equipped to investigate at all.
At a news conference, the team of Chinese and international researchers said they found that the virus was spreading in Wuhan during December 2019 both inside and outside the Huanan Seafood Market. That suggested the market was not necessarily the original source of the outbreak, the scientists said.
The team also left open the possibility that the virus may have been transmitted to humans through frozen food — a once fringe theory
that Chinese officials have been touting as part of broader push to claim that COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, did not come from China.
Notably, the WHO team dismissed as “extremely unlikely” another theory that the virus leaked from laboratories at the local Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Peter Ben Embarek, the Danish food safety expert leading the WHO team, said his group was satisfied with answers about safety at the WIV and will not recommend further investigation into the possible links to the lab.
“Just saying that they have really good safety protocols is not an answer in my view,” said Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who was not among the scientists on the trip. “That alone does
not put my mind at rest.”
It was never likely that the team would reach a definitive conclusion after two weeks in quarantine and less than two weeks of on-site investigation. But the dismissal of the lab theory, in particular, is likely to draw scrutiny.
Most researchers believe the virus passed through an intermediary animal host — such as pangolins — and evolved into a form that is easily transmissible among humans.
A smaller circle of experts says the possibility cannot be ruled out that the virus slipped out of the WIV, an institution that conducts work on coronaviruses sampled from bats.
The mission was composed of Chinese and international researchers.
The La Jolla Music Society’s 202021 season will go on at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, but with livestream concerts replacing the performances in front of live audiences originally scheduled to take place between this month and late June.
At least five of those performances, including by 21-year-old cello prodigy Zlatomir Fung and piano star Yefim Bronfman, will be livestreamed from The Conrad’s Baker Baum Concert Hall. A few will be streamed from other locations, including the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.
The move to an entirely online format for these La Jolla performances was prompted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which last March led to the shuttering of The Conrad and countless other venues across the nation and around the globe.
The move was also the result of the recent decision by Pulitzer Prizewinning jazz great Wynton Marsalis
to cancel his Jazz at Lincoln Center ensemble’s winter 2021 West Coast tour because of health concerns. That tour included four February drive-in concerts, presented by the society, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
“The Wynton concerts in Del Mar were by far the most prominent in our schedule,” Todd Schultz, the society’s new CEO, told the Union-Tribune
Tuesday. “When they fell through, we looked at what was still in our season and what artists could still come here to do livestream programs. Because we wanted our (revamped, all-digital) season announcement to include only programs that are at no risk of being canceled.”
The unwavering desire to go on with the show — whether online or, perhaps later this year, in some other safe, socially distanced format — is shared by Leah
Rosenthal, the society's artistic director.
“We will never be able to replace live performances,” she said. “But we can be really smart about how we use digital media to enhance our presentation of live performances in the meantime.
“We made the decision
early on not to cancel our 2020-21 season. We've saved as much of our season as possible, whether by livestreaming or having two socially distanced solo piano brunch concerts in our courtyard by Eric Lu (last October).”
When announced last summer, the 52-year-old society's 2020-21 season boasted 41 concerts. Because of the pandemic, 20 have been postponed to future seasons, 12 were canceled and nine pivoted to livestream. The pandemic also forced the 2020 edition of the society's 2020 SummerFest to be reduced from 18 concerts at The Conrad to just six livestreamed performances.
Yet, while Schultz, Rosenthal and the staff and board of the nonprofit society were understandably disappointed, they also seized on the rare opportunity afforded them.
The Conrad, which opened in 2019 and was budgeted at $82 million, houses state-of-the-art audio and video recording facilities. It also includes a control room from which directors
can guide film and sound production crews. As a result, both the Aspen Music Festival and Celebrity Series
of Boston have utilized The Conrad for livestreams, while SummerFest music director Inon Barnatan recorded a live album in the empty Conrad last year as his producer participated online from New York.
“We've been able to expand the reach of our organization,” Rosenthal said.
That doesn't make up for lost live concert ticket revenues, but it helps.
“As a nonprofit, we rely tremendously on our donor base,” Shultz said. “In a year like this, contributions are the way we will get through this. Sponsorship and donor support is how we are able to program online, with fewer tickets sold. That is just a fact of life.
“We are also extremely gratified to have received two grants from the Paycheck Protection Program. Those grants won't balance our budget, but they help point us in the right direction.”