{"id":3171,"date":"2026-06-24T20:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3171"},"modified":"2026-06-24T20:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:07:14","slug":"unc-doesnt-have-to-release-remaining-covid-research-records-nc-supreme-court-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3171","title":{"rendered":"UNC doesn\u2019t have to release remaining COVID research records, NC Supreme Court says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"summary\">AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article280707640.html\">Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The North Carolina Supreme Court has declined to hear a case against UNC-Chapel Hill from an advocacy group seeking records the group said could shed light on the origins of COVID-19. The decision is likely the final word in a high-profile public records dispute dating back to 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3170\">Contracts show how much NC State will pay, receive for 2026 non-conference games<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinajournal.com\/nc-supreme-court-will-not-take-unc-records-case-tied-to-covids-origin\/\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">Carolina Journal first reported this story.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ralph Baric, one of the world\u2019s top coronavirus researchers, retired from UNC-Chapel Hill earlier this month after 40 years at the university. His legacy \u2014 including early warnings about the threat of such viruses and intensive work on the development of vaccines \u2014 has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/politics-government\/article307772560.html\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">complicated<\/a> by unproven accusations that his research helped cause the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Baric\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC4797993\/\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology<\/a>, located in the Chinese city where the virus that causes COVID-19 would later be discovered, and his public comments about the virus\u2019s origin have brought scrutiny to his research.<\/p>\n<p>US Right to Know, the watchdog group that sued UNC in pursuit of Baric\u2019s research records, describes itself as \u201can investigative research group focused on promoting transparency for public health.\u201d It is particularly concerned with the idea that the American public has been <a href=\"https:\/\/usrtk.org\/covid-19-origins\/why-we-research-origins-of-sars-cov-2-gain-of-function-research\/\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">denied the full truth<\/a> about the origins of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>UNC-Chapel Hill has not responded to The News &amp; Observer\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>UNC-Chapel Hill already turned over 130,000 pages of documents concerning its coronavirus research in response to US Right to Know\u2019s July 2020 public records request, both to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/politics-government\/article314235856.html\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">the state legislature<\/a> and to the advocacy group.<\/p>\n<p>But the university also \u201cwithheld certain documents under the research exemption,\u201d which exists to \u201cprotect public universities and colleges from being placed at a competitive disadvantage in relation to private universities,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncappellatecourts.org\/show-file.php?document_id=397066\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">according to a previous court filing in the case<\/a>. The university withheld 5,205 documents from US Right to Know, it said, including materials like unpublished manuscripts and unpublished research data.<\/p>\n<p>US Right to Know sued UNC-Chapel Hill for those remaining records. The North Carolina Supreme Court declined to hear it, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncappellatecourts.org\/show-file.php?document_id=397066\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">in a decision made public Friday<\/a>. That decision leaves a prior ruling against US Right to Know from the NC Court of Appeals in place.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Gary Ruskin, executive director and co-founder of US Right to Know, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/garyruskin\/status\/2068057560897458632\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">took to social media<\/a> to express his disappointment in the high court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3168\">One of Durham\u2019s top chefs is set to unveil a new downtown restaurant<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, the North Carolina Supreme Court denied our petition to compel the University of North Carolina to release about 50,000 pages of documents, mostly related to Ralph Baric, that may contain clues about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d Ruskin posted. \u201cWe are disappointed by this result. We believe that North Carolina, our country and the world deserve better. And that it is not the proper role of the University of North Carolina \u2014 an institution of higher learning \u2014 to hide or bury what it may know about the origins of the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baric, though, has also raised alarms that some labs may not have been secure enough for the caliber of the diseases they studied. Baric joined 17 other scientists in a 2021 letter, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.abj0016\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">published in Science<\/a>, calling for a deeper investigation into the possibility of a lab leak.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/virologist-accused-starting-covid-19-will-fight-u-s-ban-funding\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">proposed banning<\/a> Baric from receiving federal funding for his research. In the email notifying Baric of the decision, HHS accuses him of a \u201cpattern of deception.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an email notifying faculty about Baric\u2019s retirement, Nancy Messonnier, dean of the Gillings School of Public Health, and Maria Gallo, chair of the department of epidemiology, celebrated his prolific career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Baric has been responsible for creating pioneering life-saving treatments, important diagnostic advancements and vaccines that are used around the world,\u201d they wrote in an email to their department, which was reviewed by The News &amp; Observer. \u201cDr. Baric\u2019s lab contributed to the development of the major drugs to treat the COVID-19 virus, as well as the MRNA vaccine, which saved countless lives globally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As early as 2015, Baric <a href=\"https:\/\/sph.unc.edu\/sph-news\/new-sars-like-virus-can-jump-directly-from-bats-to-humans-no-treatment-available\/\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">warned<\/a> that coronaviruses could jump from bats to humans, and that no treatment was readily available. Baric also worked on vaccines for norovirus and dengue fever.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3167\">How the Gaudreau Family Has Coped After Johnny and Matthew&#8217;s Deaths<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published <span class=\"inline-block\">June 24, 2026 at 1:22 PM<span>.<\/span><\/span><!-- --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNC provided 130,000 pages of research records but withheld documents under a research exemption amid scrutiny of Ralph Baric and COVID-19 origin theories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UNC doesn\u2019t have to release remaining COVID research records, NC Supreme Court says - 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