白宫冠状病毒特别工作组反应协调员黛博拉·比克斯博士在哥伦比亚广播公司新闻节目中说面向全国周日，她并不否认冠状病毒起源于中国——但目前还没有证据表明它的传播是武汉实验室事故的结果。
这位内科医生和免疫学研究员周六加入了唐纳德·特朗普总统的行列，对中国公开披露的死亡率和病例数表示怀疑。但她并没有妄下结论，特朗普政府中的一些人认为COVID-19源自武汉的一个实验室，该实验室正在测试蝙蝠的冠状病毒株。尽管特朗普指责世界卫生组织(世卫组织)和中国政府管理不善，但比克斯表示，美国官员普遍认同的唯一起源理论是，它是从从动物向人类转变开始的。
"从科学角度来说，这次爆发可能只是实验室事故的结果吗？"面向全国主持人玛格丽特·布伦南问比克斯。
“每当我们发现一种新病毒时，弄清它的来源是很重要的，我认为我们离弄清它还有很长的路要走，”Birx告诉主持人。“我们花了几十年才搞清楚艾滋病毒和埃博拉病毒，我们需要一段时间才能真正绘制和追踪这种特殊病毒，绘制出它在人类中的经历，并获得这种病毒起源的科学证据。我们知道它起源于中国，只是不知道具体是如何和在哪里。”
“听起来你好像在说这可能是[的一次实验室事故]？”布伦南追问。
“我没有证据证明这是实验室事故，”比克斯回答道。“我也不知道它到底起源于哪里。所以，在我们有具体的证据之前，我们在其他流行病和动物传染病事件中与之斗争，这些都是动物传染病事件——它们是从动物变成人类的，所以弄清楚这一点和弄清楚它是否可能在实验室里发生一样至关重要。现在，普遍的共识是动物对人类。”
特朗普政府上周表示，美国情报部门正在代表世卫组织和武汉实验室调查任何潜在的不当行为，威胁要切断对国际卫生组织的资助。周六，武汉病毒学研究所的一名副所长在中国国家电视台的一次露面中，公开反对关于存在某种冠状病毒掩盖的指控。
“他们没有证据或逻辑来支持他们的指控。他们完全是基于他们自己的推测，”袁志明在谈到对武汉实验室泄露的指控时说。
Birx在2007年的时候也曾描述过事实的国家一项由三部分组成的检测和追踪冠状病毒病例的国家战略，在她被问及除了社会隔离令之外，向州长们提供了什么指导方针后。
“第一种方法是真正理解急诊室就诊和与COVID-19相关的症状，”她说。“我们每天都在全国范围内追踪和追踪这些人。第二种方法是真正理解流感样疾病，并将整个监测程序转化为监测COVID-19，因为我们没有流感，所以在夏天的几个月里我们就能做到这一点。这两者的第三个关键环节是测试。测试需要重点关注那些你开始看到早期证据的地方，因为没有一个测试是100%特定和100%敏感的。”
白宫冠状病毒反应协调员黛博拉·比克斯博士说，她并不否认冠状病毒起源于中国，但目前还没有证据表明它的传播是武汉实验室事故的结果。
CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE'S DR. DEBORAH BIRX SAYS COVID-19 LIKELY MOVED FROM ANIMAL TO HUMAN, ORIGINATED IN CHINA
White House Coronavirus Task Force response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said during an appearance on CBS News' Face the Nation Sunday that she doesn't dispute that coronavirus originated in China--but so far evidence is lacking that its spread was the result of a Wuhan laboratory accident.
The physician and immunology researcher joined President Donald Trump Saturday in casting doubt on China's publicly revealed mortality rate and case numbers. But she did not jump to the conclusion made by some in the Trump administration that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan laboratory that was testing coronavirus strains in bats. Despite Trump's accusations of mismanagement against the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese government, Birx instead said the only origin theory widely agreed upon by U.S. officials is that it started by moving from an animal to a human.
"Scientifically speaking, could this outbreak just be the result of a lab accident?" Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked Birx.
"Any time we have a new virus it's important to figure out its origins and I think we're still a long way from figuring it out," Birx told the host. "It took us decades to figure out HIV and Ebola, it's going to take us a while to really map and trace this particular virus, map it through its experience in humans, and get the scientific evidence of where this virus originated. We know it originated in China, we just don't know specifically how and where."
"It sounds like you're saying it could have been [a Wuhan lab accident]?" Brennan pressed.
"I don't have evidence that it was a laboratory accident," responded Birx. "I also don't know precisely where it originated. So until we have the concrete evidence, which we struggled with in other pandemics and zoonotic events, these are zoonotic events - they come from animals into humans so figuring that out will be really critical as well as figuring out if it could have happened in a lab. Right now, the general consensus is animal-to-human."
The Trump administration said last week that U.S. intelligence is investigating any potential wrongdoing on behalf of the WHO and the Wuhan laboratory, threatening to cut off funding to the international health organization. On Saturday, a vice director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology spoke out against accusations there was some type of coronavirus cover-up during an appearance on Chinese state television.
"They have no evidence or logic to support their accusations. They are basing it completely on their own speculations," Yuan Zhiming said of allegations over a Wuhan lab leak.
Birx also outlined during her appearance on Fact the Nation a three-part national strategy for testing and tracing coronavirus cases, after she was asked what guidelines are being provided to governors moving beyond social distancing orders.
"The first way is really understanding E.R. visits and the symptoms associated with COVID-19," she said. "And we're tracking and tracing those every day all across the country. The second way is really understanding influenza-like illness and converting that entire surveillance program to monitoring COVID-19, which we'll be able to do in the summer months because we don't have the flu. And the third critical leg with those two is testing. Testing needs to be focused critically in places where you start to see early evidence, because no test is 100 percent specific and 100 percent sensitive."
White House Coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said she doesn't dispute that coronavirus originated in China, but so far evidence is lacking that it's spread was the result of a Wuhan laboratory accident.
