Marco Rubio says COVID-19 is China’s Chernobyl

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio continues to condemn China for unleashing COVID-19 on the world, and he compared the disease to a Soviet nuclear disaster Thursday.

“The Chinese authorities probably know that by now, but they’re never going to admit that to the world. Totalitarian regimes don’t admit mistakes. That’s how you got your Chernobyl and that’s how you have this, I think,” Rubio said during a segment on Orlando’s WDBO radio.

Rubio was touting a new bill he introduced and that a host of other Republicans, including Florida colleague Rick Scott, are sponsoring. The bill would sanction China if the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t allow a “credible and comprehensive” international probe into the origins of the disease within 90 days of enactment.

Given the lack of Democratic support for such a measure, it appears unlikely the bill will pass.

Almost two years into the pandemic, Rubio is left guessing as to the origins of the disease, though he was willing to offer informed speculation to radio listeners Thursday.

“We’re probably never going to know how this originated unless some documents are leaked or someone escapes and tells the world,” Rubio asserted.

“My theory is — I’m not saying this is the absolute truth, but I’m well informed on the topic for a variety of reasons — that they were messing around with experiments in a lab, someone got infected, maybe in a cave messing around with bats, maybe in the lab trying to create a virus that had never been in humans, but they’re trying to get ahead of it,” Rubio added.

“They manufactured a virus that would be infectious in humans — not to infect humans, but to come up with a cure for this gain of function stuff. The person got infected, it spread, and the people at the lab said, ‘I’m not telling Beijing because we’re going to get fired, maybe executed. You’ll never hear from us again.’ So no one reported it.”