ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Two top Maryland Republican lawmakers are calling on some state Democrat leaders to apologize to former CDC Director Robert Redfield, over disagreements on the origins of COVID-19.
In March, Redfield who had taken a special adviser job to Governor Larry Hogan, went on CNN and claimed, "I'm of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of the pathogen in Wuhan from a laboratory, escaped."
Some including Senate President Bill Ferguson feared Redfield's comments could stoke more crime against Asian Americans.
On March 26 Ferguson took to the Senate Floor to condemn Redfield, and in the following days even reportedly called for his resignation during appearances on different television news outlets.
Since that time, there has been renewed focus on where the virus originated from, including Redfield's suggestion of a possible lab leak.
This prompted Senate Minority Leader Bryan Simonaire and Minority Whip Michael Hough to pen a letter to Ferguson, demanding an apology for what they called a "public shaming," of Redfield.
"While there had been abhorrent attacks in the Asian community unrelated to Dr. Redfield, Democratic Senators sadly used those tragedies to attack a prominent and well-respected scientist for voicing his genuine and serious scientific theories regarding the origins of the COVID-19 virus," wrote Simonaire and Hough. "Statements made by some Senators equated Dr. Redfield’s theories and comments to racially politicized rhetoric that had caused the rise in bias, discrimination and hate aimed at Asian Americans over the past year."
President Joe Biden has also instructed the US intelligence community to conduct a 90 day investigation into the origins of the coronavirus
