Biden asks intel community to 'redouble' efforts probing COVID-19 origins
President Biden on Wednesday announced a ramped-up effort to determine the origins of COVID-19, reflecting a new acceptance in U.S. political and public health circles that the virus might have emerged naturally or from a Chinese lab in the city of Wuhan.
Biden asked the U.S. intelligence community to "redouble their efforts" to come to a definitive conclusion on the disease's origins, calling on them to report back to him within 90 days.
"As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China," Biden said in a statement. "I have also asked that this effort include work by our National Labs and other agencies of our government to augment the Intelligence Community's efforts. And I have asked the Intelligence Community to keep Congress fully apprised of its work."
"The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence," Biden added.
Top intelligence officials including Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines acknowledged at a hearing in April that a laboratory accident was a plausible scenario that the intelligence community was investigating.
Also at The Guardian, CNBC, and Politico.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @04:38AM (2 children)
CCP Han Chinese are the borgs.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:43AM (1 child)
The Biden-Borgs that invented the Biden-China Virus Hoax.
(Score: 5, Touché) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @01:51PM
The Trump Virus had established itself and spread wildly long before Biden was voted into office.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:20AM (25 children)
We have some data on the subject.
By 2014, one single country had racked up more than a thousand "incidents" involving dangerous pathogens, often serious enough for hospital checkups.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/17/reports-of-incidents-at-bioterror-select-agent-labs/14140483/ [usatoday.com]
Labs everywhere have accidents. It's almost like it's a hard problem to contain something invisible that can reproduce itself. Better worldwide safety rules are probably in order.
Our priors are that zoonotic transmission is by far the most common, and if the first reported case had been near Yunnan caves we wouldn't think twice. But there is nothing inherently weird or surprising about something escaping a lab.
Nor would there be anything weird about a junior researcher coming home from fieldwork with an asymptomatic bat coronavirus infection and breathing around other Wuhan residents. I can totally see that happening.
I wish China understood that a virus is simply a misfortune and that it's the coverup that is making them lose face.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:15AM (19 children)
What are you smoking? Based on the summary the US Gov definitely isn't picking the stance that they are sure this virus is simply a misfortune.
The US Gov is trying to shift lots of blame for their own mishandling of Covid-19 to China. It's just a slightly different style from what Trump was already doing.
Cover up or not:
1) Fact is the USA should not be so reliant on China doing the right thing. It's not like China is part of the NATO or Five Eyes. And imagine if it started from some third world country that didn't notice covid-19 cases till months later (e.g. people dying? It's not that unusual here). Heck even Italy and France weren't very good at noticing their earliest cases.
2) The USA and the rest of the world could clearly see China shutdown Wuhan, build two hospitals, release significant death figures etc. Different countries saw the same thing and acted differently, with significantly different results.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:02PM (15 children)
I'm not taking any side presently on how the virus got started. And you make interesting points. However . . .
What motive would the Biden administration have to shield the Trump administration from blame for Trump's [soylentnews.org] mishandling [soylentnews.org] of Covid-19?
This [washingtonpost.com] is perhaps the best link of the many I cited in my two journal articles linked above. It is a parallel time line of Reality and Trump's bombastic statements.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @03:51PM (13 children)
It's just plain old politics, nothing to do with shielding the Trump administration from blame.
The stink of covid hasn't gone away and now the current administration has to deal with it. That starts by pointing fingers of blame at another country to deflect scrutiny at home. Preferably a country we love to hate.
If there's anything surprising at all, it's that current administration hasn't linked this back to Russia or North Korea as well.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:19PM (12 children)
Or, a competent President is directing his resources to determine what the fuck actually happened and see if there's anything we can do to prevent it from happening again.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:35PM
you're a fucking moron. as if biden is doing anything except reading what he has been told to read. stfu, you dumb piece of shit.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:44PM (10 children)
Your standup comedy routine really isn't appropriate in a serious discussion.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/27/wuhan-lab-theory-evidence/ [washingtonpost.com]
That link shifts perspective just a little, and falls just short of highlighting the fact that Democrats in general have been a bunch of sock puppets, parroting the official party line on COVID all along.
From my own point of view, the conspiracists are impossible to dismiss, so MSM along with the D party is taking a much-belated second look at the conspiracies.
There is no "smoking gun" yet, but there are wisps of smoke lingering at the crime scene. I am mostly convinced that the COVIDS came from one of the two labs in Wuhan. For the meat market idea to work, the meat market should have been located near the mines from which the disease originated.
The fools are those people who obstructed Trump when he wanted to start shutting down international travel. Trump didn't go far enough, but he was on the right track. Without all the fools screaming "das racissss", Orange Man may well have progressed to shutting down all international travel. But, we'll never know, because we are stuck in this reality . . .
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:46PM (9 children)
There is no actual evidence one way or the other at the moment. And yet, your mind is already made up.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:09PM (7 children)
There is evidence. Enough to almost convince me. We need enough evidence to convince those who do not want to be convinced.
There is overwhelming evidence that should convince anyone and everyone that the CCP wanted to sweep things under the rug early on. Everyone who made any attempt to raise the alarm was shut up, and transferred to jobs in the hinterland, where the media could never find them.
Given that China was hushing things up, just WTF do you think they were trying to hide?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @09:24PM (2 children)
The running theories (that I know of) are:
1. Covid-19 came from a street vendor selling questionable sources of protein nutrition
2. Covid-19 was accidentally released from a lab (supposedly in China)
3. Covid-19 was deliberately released (supposedly by China)
I can easily believe number 1.
I can believe any of the three with sufficient evidence. An accidental release (2) is not too difficult to believe. Stupid mistakes happen.
A deliberate release is harder to believe. I would want to see some kind of credible evidence before I would accept 3.
This is not, or at least shouldn't be, an issue of politics. If there is any real evidence, all news sources of all flavors should cover it.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @10:07PM (1 child)
FWIW, I'm nowhere near convinced of 3. But, it's probably less far-fetched than you may believe. Like the US, and Russia, China does research biological warfare. It is entirely plausible that they were working on bio-weapons, when an unintentional release happened. Can we call that theory 2.5? What was that Steven King movie - The Stand? It starts off here in the US with some kind of flu-like super bug escaping a weapons research lab.
However, the possibility exists. It isn't all that hard to imagine some nutcase intentionally releasing a bio-weapon because he/she believes that his/her tribe is immune to the bug. Maybe this hypothetical person actually immunized those people he holds nearest and dearest, and he wants to get rid of everyone else.
Nutcases do occupy positions of power. If you need proof, look to Washington, D.C.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday May 28 2021, @03:04PM
Like I said, I could believe it. I just consider it to have a bit higher burden of proof.
All sorts of strange and bad things can happen. We live in an insane world. China deliberately releasing a virus that causes a global pandemic? It could happen. It's not impossible. I just expect to see credible evidence of this before I accept it.
And again, it's not political. Just science.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could return to the days when we could assume our politicians were sane and of sound mind -- even if we happen to disagree with their policies.
Let's not forget state level politicians / governors.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @12:38AM (3 children)
Enough evidence to convince Runaway, almost. How is that different than "none"? Seeing how Runaway is convinced the precedential erection was stolen, that scary POC are burning down cities, and that Critical Race Theory is a clear and present danger that must be banned and censored, his being almost convinced is apropos of, nothing.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @01:02AM (2 children)
chinese troll is chinese troll
we want the old russian trolls back
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @03:30AM
hello russian troll, you can fuck off and go back to fluffing trump in the off chance he's not in prison by 2024
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @07:14AM
But Runaway is already here.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday May 28 2021, @03:42PM
Hmm, smells like Russsiagate *phew!*
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday May 27 2021, @04:59PM
Because even they don't pee in their own pool. Call it "Professional Courtesy"
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:09PM
Blame shifting is even more common than lab accidents. That's a priori plausible.
However, that would involve the Biden Administration trying to make the Trump Administration look better. As General Schwarzkopf said, "Anything is possible. Some things are more likely than others."
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:48PM (1 child)
This sort of trouble occurs when you put a demagogue in charge. You invariably end up with a case where any intelligence reports that don't fit the demagogue's desired narrative are ignored or even actively suppressed. I'm sure the US intelligence agencies reported this threat early, I'm just as sure it was dismissed by those in government who assumed they knew better or thought they had something to gain by waiting to act. It's not an unusual occurrence in government, any significant military action usually follows such behavior.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @03:34AM
Trump told Woodward exactly how and why he ignored the severity of COVID. How can his supporters still defend him? Oh, CHY-NUH! idiots
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:01AM (1 child)
There are standardized rules and procedures for safely operating these labs but they don't help if you don't follow them and creating more rules doesn't fix that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:44AM
If they don't like the rules, perhaps they'll like the punishment instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:54PM (2 children)
Now everybody is agreeing that I was right when I very early on called Wuhan as the source of COVID-19, sometimes referred to as the China Virus. To me it was obvious from the beginning but I was badly criticized, as usual. Now they are all saying “He was right.” Thank you!
- DJT
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @08:17AM (1 child)
ahahahahaah
wow, he really needs to try hard
everyone knew where it came from, we just didn't like the orange jackass' race baiting
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 29 2021, @04:18PM
You are a science denier! You flip, then you flop, then you flip again. Go back to your wet-market, you murdering science denier.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Captival on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:31AM (15 children)
Since you've suggested it may be possible for the virus to have come from a lab without direct evidence, you're a conspiracy theorist and must be taken off Facebook, Twitter, and all other social media. Only bad people speculate about things.
Also you're racist, since only evil racists question the integrity of China, who is a great and wonderful country that has never ever done anything wrong. And it's AAPI month still also!
Since we're all level, morally consistent people, surely we'll have the exact same level of outrage over this as when the previous administration said the exact same thing a year ago.
(Score: 3, Informative) by khallow on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:52AM (4 children)
Without direct evidence, you can suggest all kinds of things. It's that "direct evidence" that distinguishes between reality and fantasy.
(Score: 2) by slinches on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:05PM (3 children)
What distinguishes reality from speculation is an investigation, which starts with speculation of all possible causes. Then those options are whittled down or modified by looking at evidence. Past behavior and circumstantial evidence are typically good indicators of where to start investigative paths that may eventually uncover any direct evidence that can be found. Even then, direct evidence isn't necessary if all other possibilities can be eliminated.
Suggesting early on that it could have been a lab leak when there's a lab in the area studying similar viruses is entirely reasonable. Both that and the natural animal pathway were viable options which should have been included in a thorough investigation.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 27 2021, @11:18PM (2 children)
Typically, investigations do not start so open-ended unless there are severe constraints on possible causes.
The legal definition of circumstantial evidence is not evidence. It is inference from direct evidence. "Past behavior" is a special case where one attempts to infer present behavior from known facts about past behavior. Either way, you still need direct evidence from the start.
But it stubbornly remains a suggestion without supporting evidence. My point remains - find the evidence or your suggestion will remain a fantasy.
(Score: 2) by slinches on Friday May 28 2021, @04:38PM (1 child)
Then the other potentially viable suggestion of it being natural animal to human transmission is also a "fantasy", as you put it. We need to go get the evidence and figure out what happened and which is "real".
One of the things I find troubling in this is that the politicians in charge of investigating this and the media reporting on it couldn't tell the difference between a loony conspiracy theory and a potential explanation that was worth investigating.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 29 2021, @12:03AM
Except of course, that covid appears in animals (fruit bats IIRC) native to the region and there's a large cluster of cases around a market that sold game meat.
My point exactly. Without evidence, you can't.
(Score: 4, Touché) by FatPhil on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:45AM
Surely we will have the same level of idiotic responses to it, yes. Your post contained such useful evidence to help us validate that claim.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:46AM (5 children)
> the previous administration said the exact same thing
dude, they also said to inject bleach in the lungs
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @01:33PM (4 children)
They said if bleach is known to kill the virus then scientists might want to look into if it can be used to kill the virus somehow. It was the news companies which said people believed bleach injections could be a treatment. Most of the bullshit around the country is from news agencies distorting the news for click bait.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @03:29PM (2 children)
Defending that guy is exhausting, iddn't it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:31PM (1 child)
Defending the media is exhausting, iddn't it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:48PM
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:03PM
Here's the full quote, no amount of desperate handwaving is going to make it sound any less stupid:
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:44PM (1 child)
There is a big difference between asserting that the virus was from a lab (insinuating that it was deliberately created and released) without evidence, and actually investigating and finding evidence of where it came from.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:51PM
There is just as great a difference between denying any possibility of a lab origin, and actually investigating said origin. The leftists have been screeching "DAS RACISSSSSS" from day one, any time any link was suggested between the lab and the outbreak. Get over the partisan shit, please.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @03:55PM
It's OK. Facebook has rescinded their ban on man-made covid.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-ends-ban-on-posts-asserting-covid-19-was-man-made-11622094890 [wsj.com]
Facebook can do what ever they want to oust/support the current administration. When it suits their needs.
Coincidence? I leave that to the reader to decide
(Score: 5, Touché) by krishnoid on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:41AM (8 children)
The president is delegating to nominally experienced governmental bodies to research a complex question, rather than opining on it a priori.
Am I running a fever? I don't think I'm running a fever. You know, I think I'll turn in earlier tonight.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:53AM (6 children)
The President's been acting like a completely different person since sometime in January.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:13AM (5 children)
But a meme my sister-in-law posted on Facebook says that Trump is still the president and this is just a ruse to show us how bad it is under Biden and all will be revealed soon because the Arizona audit and the voting machines that Lindell stole from Michigan (or was it Pennsylvania?) are irrefutable proof that the Chinese sent bamboo ballots and Dominion rigged machines in precincts that used ES&S machines.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:49AM
Dontcha know it's been a fake government since 1871. Except for T**** of course who was elected by the largest majorities ever seen in the Western Semisphere.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:11PM (3 children)
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Urges Election 'Criminals' to Surrender to Him for Less Prison Time [soylentnews.org]
Mike Lindell Says Trump 'Will Be Back in Office in August' Thanks to His Voter Fraud Lawsuit [newsweek.com]
MyPillow's Mike Lindell claims Trump will 'be back in office in August' in Steve Bannon podcast rant [businessinsider.com]
Mike Lindell Stands by Prediction Donald Trump Will Be Back in White House in August [newsweek.com]
Trump will be president again in August, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says in podcast rant [independent.co.uk]
There are so many articles about Mike Pillow saying this that it simply MUST BE TRUE !!! Expect Trump back in power in August.
(which year left unspecified)
(It's no worse to say "Mike Pillow" than to say "Tim Apple" or "Marylin Lockheed")
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:53PM (1 child)
Trump is more likely to be in the Big House in August.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @03:05PM
Not likely. The grand jury is supposed to take six months, at 3 days per weak, to consider evidence. That takes us well beyond August for the grand jury to recommend weather or not the persecutor should indict Trump. By then, Trump can pardon himself. Seems quite a plausible conspiracy theory. I wonder if Facebook wood agree?
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:20PM
But that's all Pillow talk. You know you can't build on that long-term!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @04:01PM
Sequence of events is important. You're a fool if you believe this started with the president and worked it's way down the chain of command. The only reason the president is publicly announcing anything is because even more experienced governmental bodies already did the research and found credible evidence. What you're reading today is just the puppet show put on for the people.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by aristarchus on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:09AM
We decided to go with the takyon submission, instead of the aristarchus submission, why? My news feed is quite good at giving me a headline, followed by a spin headline from Fox or sundry. So could we be a little more careful on the front page, editors? Not that I do not like and admire takyon for the particle stream that he is.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:20AM (20 children)
The lady in charge of the lab has told us that she was working on the stuff. CCP says she doesn't know what she's talking about, and every sycophant in the world agrees with the CCP.
Here, in the west, the very people screaming the loudest that it could not be escaped from a lab, are the very people who would have the most to lose if it had done so.
Dr. Fauci, among others, argued for the genetic engineering of pathogens. He said it was important that we understand the stuff. He said it was essential research, that it had to continue. Of course Dr. Fauci is a pandemic expert - he's been studying how to create a pandemic for decades. He argued specifically for gain of function research, when his peers were arguing to shut it all down.
https://www.newsweek.com/dr-fauci-backed-controversial-wuhan-lab-millions-us-dollars-risky-coronavirus-research-1500741 [newsweek.com]
I'm more than 75% convinced that COVID19 came from one of the labs in Wuhan. Not 100%, but 85% is sure enough to put my money on it. It didn't sponaneously jump from batshit to humans, 1000 miles away from where the bats live.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:31AM (5 children)
I remember how over a year ago now in March 2020, I saw an image of researchers from the Wuhan institute of Virology holding a live bat outside of a cave with his bare hands and with no mask. Never found that image again, should have saved it.
I believed EBOLAIDS was an accidental lab leak for most of this time, but looks like the rest of the world is finally catching up.
It wasn't a weapon, it was accidentally contracted by one of the researchers for the Wuhan Institute of Virology who didn't follow even remotely sane safety protocols, as is the norm in China.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:50AM (3 children)
>it was accidentally contracted by one of the researchers for the Wuhan Institute of Virology
That would explain the anomaly of a disease from a faraway cave appearing in a distant crowded city, if a field worker brought it back.
It's inherently plausible. If miners could get sick, so could field workers.
If the virus spread for a while asymptomatic or misdiagnosed, that would have given it a chance to adapt to humans and would explain its high affinity for human ACE2 receptors.
On this hypothesis, the lab might even be telling the truth that SARS COV 2 did not match anything they were working on.
It does not explain the blood samples in storage in Italy from September 2019 with antibodies. Every hypothesis I've heard of has a weakness.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:41AM (1 child)
IIRC the doctor who tried to raise the alarm was arrested for it. It wasn't until local officials couldn't cover it up any more that anything productive started to be done but by then it was too late. The same pattern of denial and cover-up was then repeated at the national level. Other countries then delayed closing borders and only did the bare minimum to look like they were doing something until the problem was well out of hand. The Russians denied that anything was happening even as they were breaking into Oxford's computers to steal their vaccine. Brazil threw up their hands and decided that nothing could be done, so why worry. The US turned it into a political football which stupidity they then exported via social media and as a result many people around the world are refusing to follow even basic mitigation rules let alone get vaccinated. And the WHO, who exist to watch for this exact sort of emergency so they can help coordinate a response, are still parroting PRC nonsense more than a full year after it was past embarrassing.
TL;DR career politicians tend to be short sighted egotistical idiots regardless of party, creed, or nationality and people still turn out in doves to vote for them. And then we wonder why we can't have nice things. :(
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:15PM
The people in China who repeatedly elect such politicians in their free elections should be ashamed of themselves.
Over here in the good ol' USA, we take pride in electing such politicians. It is a job requirement for politicians to be short sighted egotistical idiots.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @04:32PM
From: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-circulating-italy-earlier-thought.html [livescience.com]
Thing is that's an extremely high positive rate at a supposedly early date. Which makes me suspicious. Shouldn't people notice more dead bodies earlier if covid-19 was so widespread in Italy in Sep 2019? Even if it started in Lombardy the virus spreads rather fast.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:54AM
From: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:37AM (1 child)
Perhaps future gain of function research should be performed in a research lab on Mars. Quarantine would be unavoidable on any return flight.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:52AM
Or not at all, or preceded by developing a vaccine for the baseline pathogen.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:38AM (10 children)
No, she said the opposite. I won't ask you to believe her, but what she said was that she was fearful, checked the lab records, and breathed a sigh of relief that nothing in the lab's database matched the sequence of SARS COV 2. I believe the quote was in Scientific American.
There's no controversy that WIV was researching bat coronaviruses in general of course. We know of something in their collection 96% similar to SARS COV 2, but virologists tell us that's not particularly close. We don't know everything in their collection.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:41AM (5 children)
She did, however, publish papers on gain of function in relation to SARS viruses. So - maybe she didn't engineer THIS virus - but what about the other lab? There are two labs in Wuhan. Maybe some of her rejected work went down the street to the less stringent laboratory?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:19AM
How can we trust you, Runawa1957, when your understanding of chemical terms is so sorely lacking?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:53AM
A-HA! Got 'em. It was in... the OTHER lab. Case closed. I SAID CLOSED!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 27 2021, @11:23PM (2 children)
So now we've move from accidental release of the virus to deliberate "engineering" of the virus? And have we found any evidence for engineering in the covid virus?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @11:33PM (1 child)
Well, yes, we have actually. Multiple scientists have remarked that the distinguishing hook appears to be spliced into the virus, at just the very spot that scientists in the field would attempt to do such a thing. That may or may not be "convincing" to any one individual, but it is evidence that supports the idea.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 28 2021, @04:27AM
Have "multiple scientists" spliced distinguishing hooks into viruses before? Else what expertise do those scientists bring to this conversation where they can spot alleged human meddling in viral DNA/RNA?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:17PM
. . . spreading covid-19 droplets . . .
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday May 27 2021, @02:52PM (2 children)
When you consider that humans and chimpanzees share a similar percentage of genes, it really isn't that close.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @04:44PM (1 child)
Maybe despite what the Politically Correct Army wants people to believe, there are significant differences between a 7-foot African American NBA basketballer and an Australian aborigine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @05:13PM
Yeah, ten million bucks and a pink Cadillac
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:50AM
Aw I thought we lost this douchebag but I guess it was another douchebag.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @01:38PM (3 children)
I'm a little confused, so what if it came from the lab or not? It's already out there and the lab is in a different country. Can't really do anything about it, so why all the effort into pointing fingers rather than address the current problems?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 27 2021, @06:43PM (1 child)
If we can definitively say it's from a lab, and figure out how it got out, then we can improve safety practices. Obviously we are limited in what we can force China to do about it but the findings could still be useful to improve our own practices.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday May 27 2021, @08:03PM
You can safely bet that such research is being and has been done in the US, as well as anywhere else with the scientific capability of doing so. Bioweapons have long been banned by international law, yet research gets done that points to the potential for their creation. It's a wonder an event like the spread of the coronavirus hasn't happened prior to 2020.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 27 2021, @07:04PM
It matters because there are dozens of other laboratories around the world doing similar research.
You're aware that smallpox has been eradicated, right? Except, it still lives in laboratories in the United States, and probably other places as well.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 27 2021, @03:09PM (1 child)
It is here. It is a reality. (Except on Faux News) Way too many people have died from it. Others will suffer life long health effects.
Dealing with it is what matters. That is better than ignoring it or pretending it will go away by May of 2020.
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @03:36AM
b b b but trump needs the COVID heat taken off him!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 27 2021, @03:18PM
timeline is all wrong. all dates need to have -1 year added.
sars2 was going around al least a year earlier. i personally know people who where very sick and for a long time (more then 10 days) before. one around spring 2019 and the other two summer 2019.
try to remember, search your memory and see it you cannot recall someone you know.
for the summer 2019 case, we asked them after doctor visit ... not clear. but they were sick as dogs for a month.
man made is my bet. one big happy global bug making family methinks. bug-making isn't as "nationalistic" as "atom bomb making" but just as ev1l.
welcome to the future where a suicide "bomber" sneezes at youall after printing the bug on his basement printer and online ordering all the other stuff.