July 25, 2020

The New York Times reports that corporate insiders at companies chasing a coronavirus vaccine have cashed out roughly $1 billion in stock, with executives at the small firm Vaxart selling shares after government announcements sent prices soaring. The windfall arrives while the same officials and outlets urge the public to trust that the race is being run for its health rather than for anyone’s balance sheet.

Shi Zhengli, the Wuhan Institute of Virology researcher known as China’s “bat woman,” tells Science magazine that President Trump owes her an apology for tying her lab to the pandemic. Her denial is treated as settling the question even as the origin of the virus remains unresolved and Chinese authorities continue to restrict outside access to the institute’s records.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group pulls an episode of “America This Week” that aired a theory about Anthony Fauci and the virus’s origins. In Britain, Public Health England releases a report linking excess weight to worse COVID-19 outcomes, a risk factor that received far less official emphasis than lockdowns and masks.