COVID 'lab leak' theory: Does the DOE's assessment hold water?

The Energy Department has determined that the coronavirus pandemic probably started with an accidental leak from a lab, although with "low confidence" in the conclusion, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. The department previously said it was undecided on how the pandemic originated, but a new analysis by experts from the department's national laboratory complex, using the latest intelligence, tilted it toward the lab-accident theory. The FBI also has concluded, with "moderate confidence," that a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology likely started the pandemic.

But four other agencies and a national intelligence panel have said the first outbreak in China was likely caused by a natural "spillover" from animals. "The bottom line remains the same: Basically no one really knows," a U.S. official told The Washington Post. China has disclosed little information about the first cases in 2019, stoking allegations of a cover-up. Will the latest report by the Energy Department change Washington's understanding of how the pandemic started, or merely stir up more heated exchanges in an inconclusive debate?