A Covid-19 origin story
As GOP leadership renews commitment to the lab leak theory, how do they explain the case of Dr. Li Wenliang?
The House GOP announced recently that they will be launching a “sweeping probe” of the Covid-19 origins and the US response. Understanding the origins of the virus is important to prevent the next outbreak. However, the goal here seems particularly partisan and, as Wired explained, is engaging in “a tale of weaponized uncertainty”.
Let us revisit the story of Dr. Li Wenliang.
On December 30, 2019, the Wuhan/Hubei Center for Disease Control issued a warning about a mysterious pneumonia circulating locally. That same day, a patient was admitted to the Central Hospital of Wuhan with a case of pneumonia for which a SARS-like virus was included on the differential. A young ophthalmologist at the hospital, Dr. Li Wenliang, became aware of the pneumonia admission and was alarmed by the patient’s diagnostic report. He reached out to medical school classmates in a private WeChat group about the concerning pneumonia case. At 17:43 he wrote to his friends that there were “7 confirmed cases of SARS at Huanan Seafood Market”, adding at 18:42 that “the latest news is, it has been confirmed that they are coronavirus infections, but the exact virus is being subtyped” with a request that his messages not be circulated outside the group. Dr. Li, a 33-year-old father of one with a pregnant wife at home, also instructed his classmates to tell their families to take safety precautions.
Despite Dr. Li’s request to keep his warning private, a member of the group leaked his messages which spread like wildfire through China on the internet. The following day, the Chinese CDC notified the World Health Organization about the outbreak of this new illness. However, the Chinese government was not happy with Dr. Li’s leaked messages, as his mention of the SARS family of viruses brought back memories of the 2003 outbreak that originated in Foshan, Guangdong, China. On January 3, 2020 the Wuhan Public Security Bureau summoned him and a few other doctors in for a conversation with the police. There, Dr. Li was accused of “rumor-mongering” and “publishing untrue statements” about the outbreak, despite never having intended that his conversation with physician friends be made public. He was forced to sign a formal letter of admonition and was threatened with prosecution if he continued to speak out.
Dr. Li continued on with his clinical duties that week, including treating a patient who worked at the Wuhan wet market for acute angle glaucoma. On January 8 Dr. Li developed a fever and was diagnosed with pneumonia. He booked a room at a hotel in an attempt to avoid spreading the illness to his family. His parents came down with the virus and recovered; Dr. Li would not.
He was admitted to the hospital on January 12 and at the end of the month tested positive for Covid-19 on the newly-available nucleic acid test. While actively fighting the virus, Dr. Li began speaking out about Covid-19 - and the government’s treatment of him - publicly through social media. He discussed his experience with the police and published the letter of admonition he was forced into signing on his blog which went viral, drawing criticism of the government’s stifling of information in an emerging crisis. As Dr. Li’s folk hero internet stardom climbed, his clinical picture deteriorated. On February 7, 2020 he passed away in the intensive care unit from the virus that would go on to kill millions worldwide and become the vessel for international information warfare.
Around the time of his death, the Chinese Supreme Court issued a statement in support of Dr. Li, saying he should not have been reprimanded by Wuhan authorities, adding, “It might have been a fortunate thing if the public had believed the ‘rumors’ then and started to wear masks and carry out sanitization measures and avoided the wild animal market.”