Too much remains unsaid about Chinese-owned medical lab and why it was hidden | Opinion

A guy steps away from the keyboard for a couple weeks in the supposed dead of summer and a plot ripped straight from a Michael Crichton novel breaks out.

In Reedley, a code enforcement officer responding to a tip about unusual activity, in what’s supposed to be an empty warehouse, sees a green garden hose sticking out of the back of the building. This violation leads to the discovery of an illicit medical lab owned by dodgy Chinese nationals containing dozens of refrigerators stuffed with mice suspected of being genetically modified to carry and transmit COVID.

For seven months all of this gets kept hush hush (a major subplot on its own) until a local news outlet named the Mid Valley Times publishes its bombshell report. Which immediately ignites a firestorm of conspiracy theories and angry finger-pointing between local politicians seeking political gain and to dodge responsibility for the lack of public transparency.

What plot points did that brief summation leave out? A big one is that subsequent tests, performed by an independent veterinarian, showed the mice did not contain infectious agents and were simply used to grow antibody cells used to make COVID test kits. (Did this factoid from the original story quell the furor? Of course not.)

Also that Prestige Biotech, the Chinese-owned firm that manufactures COVID and pregnancy test kits sold online, has spent the last decade ping-ponging between Fresno, Tulare and Reedley with no one really paying attention to what they’re doing.

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In fact, what we’ve come to realize is that there is no single government agency responsible for overseeing private medical laboratories.

Kind of seems problematic in a post-pandemic world, does it not?

As the Mid Valley Times story started to circulate, even before other local news outlets had joined the chase, Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld jumped on the story and loudly made hay. As he is wont to do.

Bredefeld insists he didn’t accuse the Reedley lab of spreading genetically mutated COVID strains. Nor insinuate its Chinese owners are government spies planted in Fresno County to gain a tactical advantage over U.S. fighter jets deployed from Lemoore Naval Air Station in a theoretical war with China.

Rather, the county supervisorial candidate contends (in this case sternly over the phone) he was merely asking the questions. Questions being asked of him by his constituents.

Fanning fears, stereotypes

Sorry, but that explanation doesn’t suffice. It’s akin to clearing out a crowded theater by screaming “Smoke!!” at the top of your lungs and then claiming what you really meant was “Smoke!?”

Simply by linking the Reedley lab with the Chinese state, Bredefeld fanned all the racist fears and stereotypes that go along with that even if he didn’t explicitly join them at the hip.

No wonder Bredefeld’s comments (which garnered widespread attention in right-wing media circles) drew such a scathing rebuke from members of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. He took a page from their playbook.

What gets lost amid the political blame game is the fact that a privately owned laboratory owned by foreign nationals, which evidently has clearance to procure certain viruses for the purposes of manufacturing test kits, can secretly set up shop in the downtown a small central San Joaquin Valley city and operate for months with zero permits and no one being the wiser.

That in itself doesn’t automatically make Prestige Biotech a front for the Chinese state, but it does make them suspicious. Legitimate companies don’t conduct business in such a fashion.

Also makes you wonder how many other “bad actors” (the phrase used by Reedley city manager Nicole Zieba) are operating clandestinely throughout Fresno County at this very moment.

We simply don’t know. Keeping tabs on rogue medical labs doesn’t appear to be anyone’s job. Not unless they literally stumble across one.

Public kept in the dark

Four months passed from the time of the lab’s discovery to when local, state and federal authorities finally performed a coordinated on-site inspection. Needless to say, the public was never notified. Even Reedley residents living nearby were kept in the dark.

In March, when people wearing Hazmat suits could’ve been seen entering and exiting the warehouse, county and state health officials crafted a generic “holding statement” just in case there were any media inquiries.

None came, so the vaguely worded press release that didn’t say a whole lot besides reveal an “ongoing investigation” by the Food and Drug Administration got stuffed in a drawer.

Whether it was Fresno County that wanted things kept quiet, or if local efforts at transparency were being muzzled by state and federal authorities, has also come under scrutiny. Having reviewed the email exchange between California Department of Public Health officials and those at the county and local levels, it’s clear the state wanted a tighter lid kept on the story.

Still, that’s a matter of degree. Like two shades of black cloth, one a teensy bit more transparent than the other but neither revealing much of anything.

Fresno (both city and county), your ability to consistently generate bizarre, juicy news stories never ceases to amaze.

Next time, kindly hold off until I’m back from vacation.