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Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) on Friday called on Dr. Robert Redfield, a senior health adviser to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), to retract controversial comments about the origins of the novel coronavirus â or âstep awayâ from his role with state.
Redfield, who served as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Trump, told CNN in an interview that he believed the virus responsible for the global pandemic âescapedâ from a lab in China in September or October of 2019.
âI still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, you know, escaped,â he said. âItâs not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory to infect the laboratory worker.â
Because the first known outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in Wuhan, China, the regionâs Institute of Virology has been a focus of intense speculation for more than a year.
In a more normal political climate, a former CDC directorâs musings about the origins of a virus might not be culturally flammable. But given Trumpâs frequent references to âthe China virusâ â remarks widely believed to have fueled a spike in attacks on people of Asian descent â Redfieldâs comments were seen as insensitive and potentially dangerous.
(Like Trump, Rep. Andrew P. Harris (R-Md.), a physician, has referred to the  as recently as last April.)
The World Health Organization concluded more than a year ago that it was âextremely unlikelyâ that COVID-19 escaped from a lab. Instead, experts believe the virus  from animals to humans.
Redfield, who recently became an unpaid adviser to Hogan, admitted his belief about the virusâ origins was an âopinion.â If he has insider knowledge from his time at the agency, he did not disclose it in the âteaserâ clip that CNN aired on Friday.
âOther people donât believe that,â he told the cable networkâs medical correspondent, Dr. Sunjay Gupta. âThatâs fine. Science will eventually figure it out.â
Speaking to reporters following Fridayâs session, Ferguson called Redfieldâs comments âinappropriate, unacceptable and beyond unfortunate.â
âA comment like this, on national news, is just not OK,â he added. âAnd I am hopeful that the governor will ask Dr. Redfield to either retract or walk back that statement, or clarify that statement in some way. And if not, I hope that the governor does ask him to step away.â
Sen. Susan C. Lee (D-Montgomery), the immediate past chairwoman of the legislatureâs Asian-American Pacific Islander Caucus, took to the floor at the conclusion of Fridayâs Senate session.
She said she and others are âshocked and really saddenedâ by Redfieldâs comments, which come just days after a shooting rampage in the Atlanta area that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent, and suggested that Asian-Americans could be targeted because of the remarks.
âWe are really appalled,â she said. âWords really do matter. And they are really dangerous when they manifest themselves or they provoke violent actions against an entire ethnic group.â
âPeople in my community, theyâre terrified,â Lee added. âTheyâre frightened, just to even take a walk outside.â
Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-Howard), a Johns Hopkins physician, said there is âno evidenceâ that the coronavirus escaped from a lab.
He said a comment like Redfieldâs âfuels misperceptions about the virus [and] inappropriately attributes the origins of this worldwide natural tragedy to a specific country and specific people.â
He called it âdeeply disturbingâ that someone with Redfieldâs views is advising the governor. And he said the former CDC chief should retract his comments or end his relationship with Hogan.
Hogan has repeatedly denounced violence against Asian-Americans.
He has given several national interviews on the topic, and recently toured Asian-American-owned businesses in Howard County with his wife, first lady Yumi Hogan, who was born in South Korea, and County Executive Calvin Ball (D).
On Friday, Hogan and 24 other governors â Republicans and Democrats â released  that condemned attacks based on ethnicity.
âAs governors, we take care in protecting the people of our states,â they wrote. âThe tragic loss of loved ones in Atlanta that left eight people dead, including six Asian Americans, is part of a long and painful litany of acts of hate against Asian Americans across the country.â
âToday, and everyday, we stand in solidarity, in support, and in shared resolve with the Asian American community. Hate will not divide our states and our communities, and we condemn all expressions of racism, xenophobia, scapegoating, and anti-Asian sentiment.â
On Friday, the governor, his wife and Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery) participated in an online discussion, hosted by U.S. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), about prejudice against Asian-Americans.
During the ââStop AAPI Hateâ Virtual Roundtable,â the Hogans and Moon described hate-motivated incidents aimed at their families, relatives, friends and neighbors.
âIâm sickened by the racism that my wife and daughters and their friends have had to contend with throughout their lives, but especially during this pandemic,â the governor said.
The first lady said, âso many Asian-Americans are living in fear.â
Redfield is the co-founder of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland Baltimore.
Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince Georgeâs) said his remarks about the virus follow âthe terrible judgment that he demonstratedâ as head of the CDC.
Michael Ricci, a spokesman for Hogan, tried to diffuse the controversy over Redfieldâs remarks, and said that Redfield did not cast blame for the origin of the virus during the CNN interview. âHe expressly says heâs not implying intentionality,â Ricci said.
Highly-charged rhetoric in the General Assembly
Some lawmakers believe Anti-Asian sentiment has reared its head in the General Assembly this session, too.
Del. Lily Qi (D-Montgomery), who grew up in China, Ěý´Ú´Ç°ůĚýMaryland Matters earlier this month calling out Del. Mark N. Fisher (R-Calvert) for remarks he made on the House floor when delegates debated one of her bills.
But thereâs another instance of bizarre remarks about Asian women, in particular, that hasnât received as much public attention.
During a debate on the TRUST Act immigrantsâ rights bill earlier this week, Sen. Robert G. Cassilly (R-Harford) compared the shooting deaths of Asian women to the rights afforded to people in America.
In addressing how he believes that the U.S. âis the most fair and open, law-abiding country that the world has ever knownâ during a debate on the TRUST Act Tuesday, Cassilly brought up the six Asian women slain during a shooting spree in Atlanta last week.
âWe took that as a national tragedy,â he said. âBut letâs face it, every Asian woman, pretty much, in America has more rights â more freedoms â than a billion, or half a billion whatever Asian women do in China.â
Lee sits directly next to Cassilly in the committee room. She said his comment wasnât appropriate.
âI donât know what he was talking about,â Lee, a third-generation Chinese-American, told Maryland Matters in an interview. âI donât know where that came from, but I didnât think it was appropriate.â
âLetâs just say I didnât appreciate that comment because I donât know what he was talking about, first of all, and I donât know it was directed at me.â
Ferguson said he only became privy to Cassillyâs comment Friday but agreed that itâs ânot acceptable.â He said heâs âdisappointedâ and plans to have a conversation with Cassilly.
âWhen we started session this year, it was soon after what we saw happen in Washington, D.C., and one of the most important messages I tried to convey after what we saw on Jan. 6 ⌠is that our words do matter,â he said. âAnd when elected officials speak, those words can have reverberations and send messages and echoes to create a sentiment that can be used for good or ill.â
âItâs not what I expect of a senator.â
Cassilly could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
