It’s been more than four years since COVID first reared its ugly head, and yet people are still having heated debates regarding the way the whole ordeal was handled.
Let’s just get one thing straight before we continue: COVID-19 was and still is a serious illness, but it wasn’t handled very well in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world, for that matter. The pandemic exposed numerous world leaders for their poor leadership and terrible decision-making, but was there actually a cover-up surrounding the virus? Did the government actually know more about COVID than it claimed? That’s what many are saying online right now. But what’s the source of this conspiracy? And, more importantly, is there any truth to it?
What is the great COVID cover-up?
Earlier this week, Senator Rand Paul made claims that he had found evidence proving Dr. Anthony Fauci and the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) were aware that researchers in Wuhan were working on a virus similar or even identical to COVID-19. It was known as the DEFUSE project and the Wuhan Institute applied to 15 government agencies, including the NIAID, to fund research that involved manipulating strains of the Coronavirus.
Paul has long been a very vocal critic of Doctor Fauci and the NIAID and shared what his investigation had found via the Fox News opinions section. Paul has sent letters to all of the government agencies that knew about this research in order to expose the whole truth, but as of yet, it’s hard to confirm the truth, as there is no conclusive proof that the Wuhan lab had anything to do with the outbreak. A research article published by PubMed Central in 2022 still states that the virus jumped from animal to human, but admits that research is still needed.
People mostly believe someone else is to blame
Dr. Fauci has been under a lot of scrutiny and come under fire from many, but there’s quite simply not a lot of evidence against him. There are, however, plenty of provable examples demonstrating just how awful the universally controversial orange man, Donald Trump‘s handling of the situation was. Like, for instance, how he downplayed the severity of COVID in order to “avoid panic.”
While Rand Paul tries to target Fauci, it seems the masses are still mad at Trump. Obviously his approach was not the best ⏤ as it turns out, lying to people about a deadly disease results in higher death rates. At the time, Trump spread conspiracy theories and dragged his feet while his ambassadors sold stocks, according to CNBC. Angry users on X (formerly Twitter) accusing him of profiting from the pandemic.
Another scandal from the pandemic still being highlighted is the fact that Trump awarded a $100 million loan to his son-in-law’s former college roommate, Adam Boehler, to invest in companies producing PPE in 2020. As of the end of 2021, NBC News reported that Boehler’s company had “failed to invest a single dime” of that money.
Right now there are two different sides to the “great COVID cover-up,” and both have their torches and pitchforks at the ready. On one hand, there are those who believe Paul’s claims that federal agencies have been sitting on knowledge regarding COVID-19 since 2018. On the other, sort of in response to Paul’s conspiracy theory, people have directed their anger toward Trump for failing to fully grasp the dangers the virus posed and give the public the proper information. History will have its eye on all angles until any new updates emerge that potentially reshape how we view the pandemic and how it was handled.
