Where did COVID-19 come from?, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits Kyiv: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Where did COVID-19 come from?

Where did COVID-19 come from? USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer reports. Plus, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits Kyiv, a Keto sugar substitute may increase risk for stroke, USA TODAY National Climate & Environment Reporter Dinah Voyles Pulver looks at tensions between lobstermen and advocates working to protect the North Atlantic right whale, and what is 'body doubling?'

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 28th of February 2023. Today, where did COVID-19 come from? Plus, a sugar substitute may increase your chance for stroke, and how lobstermen in New England say rules to protect whales are hurting their livelihoods.

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Where did COVID-19 come from? It's a question with mixed theories even inside the US government. I spoke with USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer to find out more. Josh, thanks for coming on the podcast.

Josh Meyer:

Good to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

I want to start here. What have the major theories about the origins of COVID-19 been up to this point?

Josh Meyer:

So there's been two main theories of the origins of the COVID-19 virus, both originating out of Wuhan, China. The first was that the virus jumped from animals to humans at a market or what's known as a wet market. That's called a zoonotic transmission of disease. The second is that it was accidentally, or in some people's minds, purposely leaked, from a research lab where scientists were studying coronaviruses. Neither theory has enough evidence for it to be labeled conclusive, but nobody's really been able to dismiss either of them either.

Taylor Wilson:

So let's talk about this lab leak theory. The Energy Department came out this week saying that this theory has some weight to it. What are Energy Department officials saying on this, and how reliable are they?

Josh Meyer:

They're probably not that reliable. I've been covering the intelligence community for a long time. What they do is they provide analytical information to what they call the policymakers, which is Congress and the White House, and let them come to their own conclusions. So they don't try to offer conclusions. Instead, they say that they present information with a low confidence level or a medium confidence level or a high confidence level.

And in this case, as the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, the Energy Department had reached a low confidence conclusion supporting the so-called lab leak theory. This was in a classified setting that they shared with the White House and members of Congress. And basically what they're saying is that these researchers were studying some form of coronavirus in the lab and that somehow it sort of jumped the tracks and got out, whether it was by somebody carrying it out on their person, getting infected, or through other means. But it's something that the US government can't figure out exactly what happened unless we get cooperation from the Chinese government or unless we get better spies on the ground, CIA and so forth, that really can figure out what's going on over there.

Taylor Wilson:

And Josh, what are other US officials and agencies saying about this Energy Department claim?

Josh Meyer:

So John Kirby, who's the White House spokesperson, he was really grilled about this today at the White House briefing, and he basically said that what President Biden wants as facts not speculation, that despite the news reports that the Energy Department's concluded with any level of confidence that the virus leaked from a lab in China. He said, "The intelligence community and the rest of the government is still looking at this" and that there has not been a definitive conclusion. And if you recall, Biden ordered the intelligence community to really double down on this more than a year ago and find out what the cause of the virus was so we can maybe try to stop the next one before it happens or get an early start in trying to sort of curtail it from spreading around the world. So we still have a long ways to go in figuring out what happened.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. Well, Josh, you mentioned that there hasn't been much or really any collaboration from China on this. I'm wondering, since we are at this point of tension between the US and China, how did these COVID investigations play into that?

Josh Meyer:

I don't think that it's going to make much of a difference because China has not cooperated since the beginning. I mean, there's been a lot of things that the Chinese government has done that were suspicious. One of the things they did was for the first three weeks after the virus outbreak, at the very initial stages of this, they stopped flights from going from one city in China to another, but they allowed flights to go internationally. And so there's been some speculation and investigation by the intelligence communities as to why they did that. If they were worried enough to stop flights from going from Wuhan to other cities in China, what did that mean? What did they know? What were they worried about and why were they letting flights go internationally? And so I think we have to assume that any cooperation by China is off the table. It always has been, but they haven't cooperated on a range of other issues either, including the fentanyl problem, which most of the fentanyl that's killing Americans at record rates is manufactured in China. And they haven't been very cooperative on that either.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Great info. Josh Meyer covers domestic security for USA TODAY. Thanks, Josh. Really appreciate it.

Josh Meyer:

Always a pleasure. Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday in Kyiv. There, she reiterated the Biden administration's support for Ukraine. And she announced the transfer of $1.2 billion, the first of nearly 10 billion in civilian aid for the country. She also praised Zelensky's efforts to ensure transparency in how aid for his country is spent. Meanwhile, China slammed the US yesterday for what it called illegal sanctions placed on Chinese companies involved with Russia. And China warned of retaliation if the sanctions are not revoked. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN that China has not yet decided whether to provide Russia lethal weapons for its war in Ukraine.

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A sugar substitute common in keto foods may increase your risk for stroke according to a new study. People with the highest level of erythritol in their blood were shown to have twice the risk for stroke, blood clot, or death compared with those with the lowest level. And Dr. Stanley Hazen, who led the research, said that the same people most vulnerable to cardiac events are the same ones these kinds of dietary foods are recommended for. Erythritol is found naturally at low levels in some foods including grapes, cheese and soy sauce. It's commonly targeted to people on a ketogenic or low-carb diet because it does not affect blood glucose.

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The North American right whale is in trouble, but lobstermen in Maine say that conservation efforts are getting in the way of their livelihoods. I spoke with USA TODAY National Climate and environment Reporter Dinah Voyles Pulver to learn more. Dinah, welcome to 5 Things.

Dinah Voyles Pulver:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

Let's start with the whales themselves here. How much trouble are right whales actually in?

Dinah Voyles Pulver:

Right whales are in really dire straits because their numbers just continue to decline and they're not having enough calves every year to sustain their population, given the fact that whales still die from human causes. 340 right whales are left in the wild. Their population has dropped about 30% since 2011 when they numbered almost 500 whales.

Taylor Wilson:

Wow. Dinah, you write that lobstermen are extremely worried about their livelihoods. What do they say about some of these protective rules involving whales?

Dinah Voyles Pulver:

The NOAA Marine Fishery Service is the agency responsible for protecting the whales. Over a decade ago, they put in speed limits to control the speed of vessels along the migratory route in the winter. They introduced a number of regulations to protect the whales, including breakaway gear, weak points in the gear that would cause it to break if a whale swam into it. They've instituted some other measures, but the whales continue to die and they feel like they need to take more urgent measures to protect these animals. The lobstermen in New England, they feel they get too much of the blame for their rope injuries and the gear injuries and there are other fisheries all along the coast of the United States that use rope and gear and nets. So they just feel like maybe they've been targeted without adequate proof that the Massachusetts lobster gear is specifically killing whales.

Taylor Wilson:

So Dinah, what role do seafood-eating American consumers play in this conversation?

Dinah Voyles Pulver:

Well, that's a good question. Michael Moore, he is a veterinarian and scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Michael wrote a book last year called We Are All Whalers. He makes the point that consumers across the country are responsible for the increase in vessel traffic that we've seen. We all order stuff online. We all want it shipped yesterday, that scientists like Michael Moore say the seafood-eating American has a responsibility to push for sustainably harvested seafood.

Taylor Wilson:

So Dinah, is there any solution here that all parties involved can come out happy on this?

Dinah Voyles Pulver:

I'm not sure if there is a solution that will make everyone happy. The lobstermen have some pretty serious concerns and the folks that are out there trying to protect the right whale have some pretty serious concerns. One of the issues is more whale safe gear. The whale safe gear is exorbitantly expensive. Michael Moore and others believe that it would be helpful if the government would help pay for this gear so that their fishermen wouldn't be having to pay some of the cost.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Dinah Voyles Pulver covers the climate and environment for USA TODAY. Thanks so much.

Dinah Voyles Pulver:

Thank you.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

Lots of us have trouble with procrastinating, and especially in this era of remote work, staying focused isn't always easy. But there might be a solution for you if that's a problem, body doubling. Also known as an accountability partner, it involves working alongside another person. Psychologist Andrew Kahn says you don't have to be working on the same task, but the idea is for a physical presence to help motivate you to focus on something you've been struggling to complete. It's especially recommended for those with ADHD. For more, including how to find the right body double for you, check out the link in today's show notes.

And you can find 5 Things every morning right here wherever you're listening right now. If you have a chance, please drop us a rating and review. And I'll be back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID lab leak theory explained, Yellen visits Kyiv: 5 Things podcast