Recent congressional hearings on the origins of Covid-19 have moved debate further from establishing a dispassionate, objective assessment of what is known about the pandemic's source, according to David Relman, a professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford University. He cited politicization, polarization and illogical thinking as obstacles to progress on the question.
Relman noted the difficulty of observing the public discourse on Covid-19 origins as it has unfolded. He said he found it particularly difficult to read comments about the origins debate from Anthony Fauci in his now-public diary and to watch a televised hearing hosted by U.S. Senator Rand Paul on July 29 involving what Relman characterized as a hostile interrogation of Fauci.
Relman was an inaugural member of the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and served as president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.