US Lab Is Linked to COVID Virus, Before Outbreak

In 2018, NIH researchers tested a SARS-like coronavirus in bats at a Montana lab, raising more questions about the origins of COVID-19.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Researchers with the NIH’s National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) infected 12 Egyptian fruit bats with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like WIV1-coronavirus (CoV) in 2018

• The bats came from the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve (CWP) in Thurmont, Maryland, a roadside zoo with numerous animal welfare violations a…