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Thread on testing & treatment research for COVID-19

Nicholas Wade (former NYTs science reporter) has written a thorough article analyzing the possible sources of the Covid virus. One of his conclusions is that it is reasonable to argue that it was created at the Wuhan lab, which was funded by the US, which would also bear responsibility. Personally, I have no dog in this fight, but because I think there are a number of knowledgeable people here, I believe some people might be interested and some might have interesting nuggets to add.

If this ends up at the test board or gets nuked, no big deal to me.

Here is the main take away:

"It’s documented that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were doing gain-of-function experiments designed to make coronaviruses infect human cells and humanized mice. This is exactly the kind of experiment from which a SARS2-like virus could have emerged. The researchers were not vaccinated against the viruses under study, and they were working in the minimal safety conditions of a BSL2 laboratory. So escape of a virus would not be at all surprising. In all of China, the pandemic broke out on the doorstep of the Wuhan institute. The virus was already well adapted to humans, as expected for a virus grown in humanized mice. It possessed an unusual enhancement, a furin cleavage site, which is not possessed by any other known SARS-related beta-coronavirus, and this site included a double arginine codon also unknown among beta-coronaviruses. What more evidence could you want, aside from the presently unobtainable lab records documenting SARS2’s creation?
Proponents of natural emergence have a rather harder story to tell. The plausibility of their case rests on a single surmise, the expected parallel between the emergence of SARS2 and that of SARS1 and MERS. But none of the evidence expected in support of such a parallel history has yet emerged. No one has found the bat population that was the source of SARS2, if indeed it ever infected bats.

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First and foremost, Chinese virologists are to blame for performing gain-of-function experiments in mostly BSL2-level safety conditions which were far too lax to contain a virus of unexpected infectiousness like SARS2. If the virus did indeed escape from their lab, they deserve the world’s censure for a foreseeable accident that has already caused the deaths of 3 million people.

True, Dr. Shi was trained by French virologists, worked closely with American virologists and was following international rules for the containment of coronaviruses."
 
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Just saw this today too. State Department apparently has uncovered documents from the Chinese over the past 6 years detailing them preparing bio and genetic weapons (including coronavirus) for a WW3.

 
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There was US funding of Gain of Function research at the WIV that apparently did not undergo the required review after the moratorium was inexplicably lifted on such research in 2017. I read where the funding went through the NIH and the NIAID ( Fauci’s organization ).
The lab leak theory is not some sort of crackpot conspiracy notion. When the former CDC Director goes on the record indicating that he believes it to be the most likely probability, that says something. There is an enormous amount of bias in parts of the scientific community and various governments against even the idea of lab leak. The results of such a finding would be legally and financially devastating to these parties.
But the way science works is that evidence begins to accumulate in favor of a given hypothesis until the probability of the hypothesis becomes so high that it clearly becomes the best explanation. If this were a horse race, the lab leak would be the favorite at this point.
 
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Nicholas Wade (former NYTs science reporter) has written a thorough article analyzing the possible sources of the Covid virus. One of his conclusions is that it is reasonable to argue that it was created at the Wuhan lab, which was funded by the US, which would also bear responsibility. Personally, I have no dog in this fight, but because I think there are a number of knowledgeable people here, I believe some people might be interested and some might have interesting nuggets to add.

If this ends up at the test board or gets nuked, no big deal to me.

Here is the main take away:

"It’s documented that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were doing gain-of-function experiments designed to make coronaviruses infect human cells and humanized mice. This is exactly the kind of experiment from which a SARS2-like virus could have emerged. The researchers were not vaccinated against the viruses under study, and they were working in the minimal safety conditions of a BSL2 laboratory. So escape of a virus would not be at all surprising. In all of China, the pandemic broke out on the doorstep of the Wuhan institute. The virus was already well adapted to humans, as expected for a virus grown in humanized mice. It possessed an unusual enhancement, a furin cleavage site, which is not possessed by any other known SARS-related beta-coronavirus, and this site included a double arginine codon also unknown among beta-coronaviruses. What more evidence could you want, aside from the presently unobtainable lab records documenting SARS2’s creation?
Proponents of natural emergence have a rather harder story to tell. The plausibility of their case rests on a single surmise, the expected parallel between the emergence of SARS2 and that of SARS1 and MERS. But none of the evidence expected in support of such a parallel history has yet emerged. No one has found the bat population that was the source of SARS2, if indeed it ever infected bats.

******
First and foremost, Chinese virologists are to blame for performing gain-of-function experiments in mostly BSL2-level safety conditions which were far too lax to contain a virus of unexpected infectiousness like SARS2. If the virus did indeed escape from their lab, they deserve the world’s censure for a foreseeable accident that has already caused the deaths of 3 million people.

True, Dr. Shi was trained by French virologists, worked closely with American virologists and was following international rules for the containment of coronaviruses."
 
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