Shot/chaser of the day: FiveThirtyEight's takes on questions about China lab leak have evolved

The emails to and from Dr. Fauci that were released after a FOIA request show that, in spite of past media fact-checkers labeling claims from Trump and others that Covid-19 could have escaped from a Wuhan lab as “debunked conspiracy theories,” Fauci and others considered that a possibility last year. But now FiveThirtyEight has a question:

Does it matter if there was a lab leak? https://t.co/Tdb3dygJgf

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) June 3, 2021

That ended up getting compared to FiveThirtyEight’s take from May of 2020:

¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/P1gdWY96V4

— Kate Hyde (@KateHydeNY) June 3, 2021

What a difference just over a year made:

No single piece of evidence has yet confirmed the virus’ origin.

But according to scientists, the evidence that does exist paints a consistent picture of a wild virus, not one that sprang from a lab. https://t.co/sJXb5zsNGb

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) May 5, 2020

And now that the lab leak theory is no longer being automatically discounted…

Does it matter if there was a lab leak? https://t.co/Tdb3dygJgf

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) June 3, 2021

And yes, it does matter.

. @fivethirtyeight Best work since the 2016 election. https://t.co/kzSxmGR2aG

— K G (@kgdwisdom) June 3, 2021

Did it matter how the Challenger blew up?

— OC and Stiggs (@_Me_Three) June 3, 2021

Damn right it does! https://t.co/WwRPMIJvHM

— Buckinflynd (@buckinflynd) June 3, 2021

Absolutely. The media covering for Fauci continues. https://t.co/LIjPJk5VDN

— Old "Wuhan Lab Leak" Curmudgeon (@1oldcurmudgeon) June 3, 2021