This is turning into a banner day for evidence supporting the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of the virus leaking from a lab in Wuhan, China. Earlier today, RedState reported on the surprising flip-flop from the exalted Dr. Anthony Fauci.

After over a year of dismissing the idea that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a lab, either purposely or inadvertently, Fauci’s now “not convinced” that the virus originated in nature (see: Fauci Admits He’s ‘Not Convinced’ COVID-19 Developed Naturally, Could Have Leaked From Lab). His change of heart is especially rich, given how combative he’s been with Sen. Rand Paul about the issue.

Regardless, there’s far more to go on here than Fauci’s opinions. The GOP House Intel Committee members put out a report pointing to circumstantial evidence of a leak. Now, another big piece of news may be one of the final pieces of the puzzle.

WSJ EXCLUSIVE: Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report https://t.co/iWDjjtqA3Y

— Anthony DeRosa 🗽 (@Anthony) May 23, 2021

WASHINGTON—Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the Covid-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory.

The details of the reporting go beyond a State Department fact sheet, issued during the final days of the Trump administration, which said that several researchers at the lab, a center for the study of coronaviruses and other pathogens, became sick in autumn 2019 “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness.”

Again, this is circumstantial, but if you are expecting the Chinese to come out and give any direct evidence they could have been responsible for COVID-19 being leaked from a lab, you are delusional. This is as good a piece of information as we are going to get from the CCP as far as any confirmation that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was in possession of what we now know as SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19.

Why else would these workers at the lab get sick with COVID-19 symptoms – and sick enough that they sought treatment at a hospital – before the virus was even in the general public in Wuhan? Occam’s razor says it’s obviously because they were manipulating the virus, the virus leaked, and these were the patient zeros. Whether that work was being done as some type of bioweapon development is another question, but regardless, a leak is a leak.

(Editor’s Note: The CCP claims that none of the workers in the lab tested positive for coronavirus antibodies and that there has been no employee turnover, but it’s unclear who administered any tests the CCP claims were administered, or how the validity of those alleged tests was determined.)

Besides, the lab leak theory just makes the most sense. The bat that COVID-19 supposedly comes from isn’t even native to Wuhan (existing hundreds of miles away). Further, if this came from a wet market, why would China not close the wet markets? It seems clear they know what really happened and that their actions have been based on that, i.e. the wet markets stayed open but they sought to stop any real investigation in the Wuhan lab.

But perhaps the real scandal here, at least on this side of the ocean, is how the media and left-wing politicians and bureaucrats have systematically sought to suppress all questions surrounding the Wuhan lab. I’ve lost track of how many fawning profiles of Fauci I’ve seen from the media claiming he “smacked down” Rand Paul during the hearing on May 11, even though the science and probabilities have clearly been on Paul’s side.

The tides are shifting, and a lot of people who fancied themselves experts now have egg on their faces. They shouldn’t be allowed to suddenly shift sides, but should be held accountable for their illiberalism and censorship of legitimate questions and ideas.