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Thread: Coronavirus with an R0 of 3 or beyond

  1. #1291
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    Quote Originally posted by Dreamtimer View Post
    Russia will interfere with the US as much and as long as it can. It's so easy now. They have entree they never used to have.

    Why folks want to downplay rhetoric and propaganda which is currently serving its purpose is beyond me. We're being played. Our anxiety and emotions are being played way too easily.

    I will continue to point it out as it's doing great damage and I don't like it.
    Personally, I'd be more worried about Chinese influence-peddling with the Bidens, but it's none of my concern, I guess...

    It seems to me that many Americans still have some sort of cold-war mentality about Russia, which isn't based on fact, but on some peculiar form of paranoia. I think this enemy is largely made up.

    Sure, Putin is somewhat authoritarian, but modern Russia is in no way comparable to the Soviet Union. There is one country however that is comparable in many ways and that is Communist China.

    Russia has no desire to go to war with the United States and it is relatively weak, notwithstanding its nuclear weapons, which are more of a deterrent than anything they could actively use on a battlefield.

    China on the other hand is very much raring and ready to confront the US and its allies in the South China sea and war could break out imminently.

    I have a suspicion, that the crazy wokesterism which has recently overtaken the political Left in the US is being supervised by the Maoists in China as a way to weaken the enemy and soften them up before delivering a swift and crushing blow.

    If the US establishment had any sense, it would be teaming up with Russia to contain the rising threat from China, in a reversal of the Nixon China policy. China is by far the greater threat. Russia too, has far more to fear from China than from any other potential rival.

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    Here's the CDC statement regarding myocarditis and pericarditis.

    Since April 2021, increased cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been reported in the United States after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), particularly in adolescents and young adults. There has not been a similar reporting pattern observed after receipt of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson).

    In most cases, patients who presented for medical care have responded well to medications and rest and had prompt improvement of symptoms. Reported cases have occurred predominantly in male adolescents and young adults 16 years of age and older. Onset was typically within several days after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, and cases have occurred more often after the second dose than the first dose. CDC and its partners are investigating these reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.

    CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 12 years of age and older given the risk of COVID-19 illness and related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death.
    More here.

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  5. #1293
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    I don't know any 'wokesters'.

    China is a challenge. But that doesn't mean Russia isn't a problem. Especially when so many seem to be beholden to Russian cash. Very beholden. Way too beholden. And I speak of our leaders and politicians. (Oligarchs and wannabe oligarchs gonna oligarch)

    Here's one way Putin works which has nothing to do with the Soviet Union.

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  7. #1294
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    Quote Originally posted by Chris View Post
    Personally, I'd be more worried about Chinese influence-peddling with the Bidens, but it's none of my concern, I guess...

    It seems to me that many Americans still have some sort of cold-war mentality about Russia, which isn't based on fact, but on some peculiar form of paranoia. I think this enemy is largely made up.

    Sure, Putin is somewhat authoritarian, but modern Russia is in no way comparable to the Soviet Union. There is one country however that is comparable in many ways and that is Communist China.

    Russia has no desire to go to war with the United States and it is relatively weak, notwithstanding its nuclear weapons, which are more of a deterrent than anything they could actively use on a battlefield.

    China on the other hand is very much raring and ready to confront the US and its allies in the South China sea and war could break out imminently.

    I have a suspicion, that the crazy wokesterism which has recently overtaken the political Left in the US is being supervised by the Maoists in China as a way to weaken the enemy and soften them up before delivering a swift and crushing blow.

    If the US establishment had any sense, it would be teaming up with Russia to contain the rising threat from China, in a reversal of the Nixon China policy. China is by far the greater threat. Russia too, has far more to fear from China than from any other potential rival.
    I wouldn't disagree with that, Chris, If people would abandon their Bizarro World perspective, we could go back to working on real world problems and forming a front that China would find unpalatable. But as long as there is Putin it won't happen. The one critical thing about Putin to be aware of is that he has a hard cold war perspective and his entire mission is to restore the glory of the Soviet Union and to defeat the United States as retribution for the humiliating defeat of the former Union. He IS the source of the mess in the world today. That has been obvious to me since he gained national power.

    The Bizarro Worlders are so confused and to use a former glorious phrase used by the alternatives, suffering from cognitive dissonance to the extreme. And that is In Fact!! There truly is no backdoor out of the double-bind conundrum.
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    Quote Originally posted by BeastOfBologna View Post
    I wouldn't disagree with that, Chris, If people would abandon their Bizarro World perspective, we could go back to working on real world problems and forming a front that China would find unpalatable. But as long as there is Putin it won't happen. The one critical thing about Putin to be aware of is that he has a hard cold war perspective and his entire mission is to restore the glory of the Soviet Union and to defeat the United States as retribution for the humiliating defeat of the former Union. He IS the source of the mess in the world today. That has been obvious to me since he gained national power.

    The Bizarro Worlders are so confused and to use a former glorious phrase used by the alternatives, suffering from cognitive dissonance to the extreme. And that is In Fact!! There truly is no backdoor out of the double-bind conundrum.
    I do not think you're right about Putin. He's a hard-nosed realist and is fully aware of Russia's extremely limited scope in terms of power projection (especially soft power). He very clearly stated that only a madman would want the restoration of the Soviet Union. He probably wouldn't say no to some Russian speaking-areas in the former SU wanting to rejoin the motherland, but that's about the extent of his global ambition.

    Like I said, Americans (particularly on the Left) are creating a straw-man out of Putin and projecting their fears onto him, but it is largely irrational and not fact-based at all. This is made worse by the fact that they are largely ignoring the very real and ever growing threat from China at the same time. In Biden they may even have an actual Manchurian Candidate in office. Remember that movie? Yep, it's coming true, all right...

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    What's that saying, actions speak louder than words. Leaders say a lot of things and leaders will lie when expedient. Studies have been done that demonstrate the best leaders are good liars.

    Putin is power and glory mad. Have you ever seen a leader that has perfected a strut better than Putin's?
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    The Intelligence community (around the world) is keeping close eyes on Putin. They understand the threat from Putin. And from China too.

    I'm not really interested in the 'opinions' of the left or right on this one. I'll be watching what Putin himself is doing and who's keeping an eye on him. He's been fecking with us a LOT and I don't like it.

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    Bob Enyart is one of the most ironic stories regarding vociferous vaccine refusal followed by death from Covid. He was the radio host who'd play Queen's song Another One Bites the Dust after someone died of AIDS. He made fun of them.

    And then he himself refused the necessary actions to avoid a preventable disease. He brought it upon himself just as he saw AIDS sufferers doing.

    I wonder if they played the Queen song at his memorial.

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    This one is about the origins of mRNA technology which is used in the Covid-19 vaccines.


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    The Nikkei Asia Covid Recovery Index makes for interesting viewing.

    I was surprised to see China and Hungary at the top spots, but I'm guessing this has a lot to do with vaccination. Both countries have widely used traditional, deactivated virus vaccines on their populations, rather than the spike protein shots that dominate in most other places. I read some studies early on, that this type of vaccination, whilst less effective initially, might give wider and longer-lasting immunity due to the fact it trains the immune system to recognise and fight other characteristics of the coronavirus, not just the spike protein and all that without the well-documented widespread side effects and deaths with the new, fancy vaccines.

    https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Th...Recovery-Index



    The index calculates a score between 0 and 90 for each country or region. The score is the sum of three constituent categories and nine subcategories as shown below:

    Infection management:

    Confirmed cases of COVID-19 versus peak case count;

    Confirmed cases per capita;

    Tests per case.

    Vaccine rollouts:

    Total vaccine doses given per capita;

    New vaccine doses given per capita;

    Share of people who have received at least one dose.

    Mobility:

    Community mobility;

    Oxford stringency index;

    Flight activities.

    Data sources of the index include Our World in Data; Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports; Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker by Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford; Cirium, an aviation data and analytics company; and Orbital Insight, which analyzes satellite data.

    Each subcategory has a maximum score of 10. Countries and regions are compared with one another for most of these subcategories. For example, in the "share of people who have received at least one dose" subcategory, if a country's or region's percentage is higher than 90% of all the countries, it gets a 10; if the percentage is higher than 80% of all the countries, it gets a 9; and so on.

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    Just listened to Chris Martenson interviewing David Icke on the Peak Prosperity podcast.

    I'm surprised to see he would do that as they seem to be quite far apart in most of their views. Still, as the pandemic and the associated march of tyranny and censorship has progressed, it seems even Chris is starting to see the value in David Icke's analysis, which may be completely bonkers at times, but has actually accurately predicted a lot of the police-state measures being introduced right now, all over the world, decades ago.

    I disagree with David Icke on many things, but found myself nodding along several times during their interview and getting aha moments (So THAT'S why they did that...). Might be worth a listen if you can keep an open mind.

    https://www.peakprosperity.com/its-a...th-david-icke/

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    Quote Originally posted by Chris View Post
    Just listened to Chris Martenson interviewing David Icke on the Peak Prosperity podcast.

    I'm surprised to see he would do that as they seem to be quite far apart in most of their views. Still, as the pandemic and the associated march of tyranny and censorship has progressed, it seems even Chris is starting to see the value in David Icke's analysis, which may be completely bonkers at times, but has actually accurately predicted a lot of the police-state measures being introduced right now, all over the world, decades ago.

    I disagree with David Icke on many things, but found myself nodding along several times during their interview and getting aha moments (So THAT'S why they did that...). Might be worth a listen if you can keep an open mind.

    https://www.peakprosperity.com/its-a...th-david-icke/
    I have an insider's insight on that one. A former member and myself, also a former member were talking about a month ago, about his forum, noting he was on a major paid subscriber drive and not having much success at it. We deduced that, in order to keep his forum afloat he would have to do something extreme to pull more people in.

    This is about money. Nothing more.

    The other issue is censorship during a pandemic. Social media, that influences millions or billions of people, has to somehow develop a way to deal with those who have a perverse incentive to spread misinformation. I don't know how they will do it without curtailing freedom of speech, but they may find a way. They are going to lose market share if they don't.

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    Quote Originally posted by Octopus Garden View Post
    I have an insider's insight on that one. A former member and myself, also a former member were talking about a month ago, about his forum, noting he was on a major paid subscriber drive and not having much success at it. We deduced that, in order to keep his forum afloat he would have to do something extreme to pull more people in.

    This is about money. Nothing more.

    The other issue is censorship during a pandemic. Social media, that influences millions or billions of people, has to somehow develop a way to deal with those who have a perverse incentive to spread misinformation. I don't know how they will do it without curtailing freedom of speech, but they may find a way. They are going to lose market share if they don't.
    I wonder if you think that Chris Martenson is spreading misinformation (no question about Ickey and his wacky theories of course)?

    I listened to him a lot last year when he was one of the most reliable analysts out there in terms of what was happening with the pandemic, but then he sort of fell off the radar. I have no idea what he has been up to during the past year, but in general, I trust his analysis.

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    Source: Ars Technica


    ASGARDIAN MEDS — Meet molnupiravir, Merck’s Thor-inspired pill that hammers COVID


    In Phase III trial, the drug smashed hospitalization and death rate by about half.







    An oral antiviral drug appears to cut the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 by roughly 50 percent in people newly diagnosed with the infection and at risk for severe disease, pharmaceutical company Merck announced Friday morning.

    The drug-maker and its partner, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, released top-line results of a Phase III trial, which the companies ended early given the positive results. The companies say they will apply for an Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration as soon as possible.

    The trial enrolled people who had newly tested positive for a SARS-CoV-2 infection and had onset of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 symptoms within just the past five days of starting the trial. The enrollees also had to have at least one risk factor for a poor outcome, such as having obesity, diabetes, heart disease, or being age 60 or above. While some participants received a placebo and standard care, others took an oral dose of the drug every 12 hours for five days.

    After 29 days of follow-up, 53 out of 377 participants who received the placebo were hospitalized with COVID-19, and eight of those participants died. Among those who received the drug, only 28 of 385 were hospitalized and none of those patients died. Put another way, 7.3 percent of patients on the drug were either hospitalized or died compared with 14.1 percent in the placebo group.

    Merck also highlighted that the trial was global and that the drug appeared to work equally well against varying SARS-CoV-2 variants, including delta, gamma, and mu. The drug-maker noted that it had viral genetic data to identify variants from 40 percent of participants.

    The safety data was equally promising, with participants reporting similar numbers of drug-related adverse events between the placebo group than the drug group (11 percent and 12 percent, respectively). About 3.4 percent of people in the placebo group quit the study due to adverse events, while only 1.3 percent quit in the drug group.



    Pharmaceutical mythology

    The drug at the center of these seemingly smashing results is dubbed molnupiravir—a name inspired by that of Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. The idea is that the drug will strike down SARS-CoV-2, like a mighty blow from the god of thunder. In an interview with Stat news, Merck’s head of research and development, Dean Li, said that the new data proves the drug's mythological force. “Our prediction from our in vitro studies and now with this data is that molnupiravir is named after the right [thing]… this is a hammer against SARS-CoV-2 regardless of the variant.”

    Molnupiravir is a small molecule that wallops the work of a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, an enzyme critical for making copies of RNA viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. The drug had been in the works for years before SARS-CoV-2 emerged and, in March of 2020, it was on the verge of entering clinical trials for use against influenza. At that point, Ridgeback partnered with the drug's non-profit developers at Emory University to turn it against SARS-CoV-2. A few months later, in May, Ridgeback and Merck announced a collaboration to develop the drug, then called EIDD-2801, into a COVID-19 treatment.

    Molnupiravir delivers a precise blow to viral RNA polymerase by posing as a building block for RNA. In the body, molnupiravir is forged into a deceptive ribonucleoside that the polymerase unwittingly incorporates into new strands of viral RNA instead of cytidine. This is essentially lethal. Researchers call the effect a "viral error catastrophe," in which the rate of genetic mutations or errors exceeds a threshold compatible with the virus surviving.

    These types of nucleoside decoy drugs raise concerns of creating problems for human enzymes, too. For this reason, pregnant people were carefully excluded from trials. However, so far, all the animal and clinical trials have suggested good safety results.

    In early animal studies with other coronaviruses, namely SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, molnupiravir improved lung function, lowered viral loads, and improved infection-related weight loss. Other early studies showed molnupiravir also worked to kill off SARS-CoV-2 infecting cells from human airways.

    The new clinical data suggests that, when given early, molnupiravir can bash out the worst-case scenarios of COVID-19. Its easy-to-use oral pill is also an advantage worth noting. Remdesivir, another antiviral drug used against COVID-19, must be given intravenously. If molnupiravir gains FDA authorization, it would certainly be another useful tool against COVID-19. However, vaccines will remain the best tool for pounding out the pandemic, smashing down not only severe disease and hospitalization but infection and transmission as well.


    Source: Ars Technica
    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

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    Lightbulb

    And now finally, so as to dispel the treasured conspiracy theory about the origins of the virus...





    Source: Yahoo! news





    New evidence undermines the COVID lab-leak theory — but the press keeps pushing it


    When it comes to the pandemic, pseudoscience has outweighed real science at almost every turn. One of the best examples of that is the unsupported assertion that the virus causing COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese laboratory.

    Despite mounting evidence that the virus reached humans through natural pathways — from infected animals such as bats — the lab-leak hypothesis recently jumped back into the news, thanks to CNN, the investigative news site the Intercept, and the Atlantic.

    All treat the idea that the virus escaped from a lab credulously. They downplay or entirely ignore the latest scientific findings that support the theory that the virus' origin can be found in the animal kingdom — the view accepted by a preponderance of experts in virology.


    "It's a likely probability that this one originated from animals as well. But the possibility also remains that the virus leaked from a lab."


    CNN's Sanjay Gupta overstates the lab leak theory

    This is known as the zoonotic theory, from the term for a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

    We've reported before on the near absence of evidence for a lab leak, whether or not it's the product of a deliberate act.

    Ever since the lab-leak claim first emerged during the Trump administration, where it was part of a White House information campaign demonizing China, one of the arguments in its favor has been that evidence for a zoonotic origin has also been spotty.

    That argument has never been quite true — virologists know that animals have been the source of most of the viral diseases afflicting humanity — but it has become weaker than ever over the last year.

    The question of the origin of COVID-19 isn't of merely academic interest. The answer could guide the world's preparation for future pandemics; if the virus emerged from a laboratory, then improving lab safety measures will be prioritized. If scientific opinion continues to coalesce around animal-to-human transmission, that will underscore the importance of regulating contact between humans and wildlife.

    To put it another way, if we focus on the wrong answer, the right measures won't be taken. In a real sense, humankind's future depends on not being distracted by an unsupported, politically motivated claim about Chinese labs.

    Before examining the flaws in the CNN, Intercept and Atlantic treatments, let's look at what's been published recently about the zoonotic path.

    For context, keep in mind that the earliest cluster of COVID-19 cases, in late 2019, was identified in the environs of the Huanan seafood market in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan. Lab-leak theorists find this significant, because it's 7.5 miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which does research on bat viruses.

    A paper posted online earlier this month chiefly by researchers at France's Institut Pasteur and under consideration for publication in a Nature journal, however, reports that three viruses were found in bats living in caves in northern Laos with features very similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.

    As Nature reported, those viruses are "more similar to SARS-CoV-2 than any known viruses."

    Another paper, posted in late August by researchers from the Wuhan lab, reports on viruses found in rats also with features similar to those that make SARS-CoV-2 infectious in humans. Two other papers published on the discussion forum virological.org present evidence that the virus jumped from animals to humans at more than one animal market in Wuhan, not just the Huanan seafood market.

    Given that these so-called wet markets have long been suspected as transmission points of viruses from animals to humans because they sell potentially infected animals, that makes the laboratory origin vastly less likely, according to a co-author of one of the papers.

    "That a laboratory leak would find its way to the very place where you would expect to find a zoonotic transmission is quite unlikely," Joel Wertheim, an associate professor at UC San Diego's medical school, told me. "To have it find its way to multiple markets, the exact place where you would expect to see the introduction, is unbelievably unlikely."

    As virologist Robert F. Garry of Tulane, one of Wertheim's co-authors, told Nature, the finding is "a dagger into the heart" of the lab-leak hypothesis.

    Garry and Wertheim are among the 21 expert co-authors of a "critical review" of virological findings on the origins of COVID-19. The review concludes, "There is currently no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has a laboratory origin."

    Now let's look at the recent reporting in support of the lab-leak theory.

    On Sept. 19, CNN aired an hourlong documentary entitled "The Origins of COVID-19: Searching for the Source." Hosted by the channel's star science anchor, Sanjay Gupta, the program carries the veneer of an evenhanded approach.

    Proponents of the zoonotic origin theory are given airtime, including Kristian Andersen of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and Peter Daszak, a prominent grant maker in the virology field.

    But so are proponents of the lab-leak theory. They include Alina Chan, a researcher at the Broad Institute, a biomedical research center, and Josh Rogin, a Washington Post columnist. Neither has any experience in virology. Chan is co-writing a book about COVID's origins that is expected to feature the lab-leak theory prominently, a fact not mentioned by CNN.

    Yet at the top of the hour, referring to the common pattern of viruses jumping from animals to humans, Gupta says, "It's a likely probability that this one originated from animals as well. But the possibility also remains that the virus leaked from a lab."

    By posing these two theories as simply two equally plausible solutions to a mystery, CNN glosses over the fact that the virological community regards the animal origin as vastly more likely than a lab leak. In fact, the two hypotheses are miles apart in credibility.

    One of the program's chief targets is a report by a World Health Organization team issued in early 2021 that found spillover from an animal host to be "likely to very likely" and a laboratory incident an "extremely unlikely pathway."

    Gupta calls the WHO report "the only scientific study of COVID's origins to date." That's not remotely accurate. There have been countless scientific studies, both before the WHO report and since. Indeed, Gupta mentions one of them, a seminal paper by Andersen and colleagues, published in March 2020. That paper termed the lab-leak theory "a speculative incomplete hypothesis with no credible evidence.”

    Much of the rest of the CNN program is filled with speculation about the Wuhan Institute, typically presented with portentous music on the soundtrack, suggesting subliminally that something sinister is going on there. The absence of information from the institute or the Chinese government is generally taken as tantamount to an admission of guilt.

    "Over the course of 2020," Gupta declares, "more and more revelations emerged related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

    One of these revelations concerned three staff members who reportedly sought hospital treatment for a flu-like illness in November 2019, before the COVID pandemic emerged.

    Nothing has ever transpired to suggest these workers had COVID — November is flu season, after all. That they sought treatment at a hospital is immaterial, since it is well-known that people in China often go to hospitals for primary care, which residents of other countries would tend to receive in a doctor's office.

    A CNN reporter appearing on air overstated the case, saying the patients were "hospitalized with an unknown illness." There has been no evidence that they were admitted to the hospital or that their illness was "unknown."

    CNN doesn't bring its audience up to date on any of the latest research supporting the zoonotic theory, though it was published well before the air date and superseded what Gupta described as "the only scientific study" of COVID origins.

    More recently, the Intercept trumpeted a purported scoop based on a leaked document — a grant proposal submitted in 2018 by Daszak's organization, the EcoHealth Alliance, to the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

    The proposal, for a laboratory manipulation of a virus related to SARS, the viral disease that caused an outbreak of pulmonary disease in China in 2003. DARPA rejected the proposal, however, and there's no evidence that it was submitted to, much less approved by, any other funding body.

    "Many questions remain about the proposal, including whether any of the research described in it was completed," the Intercept acknowledged.

    Commentators on the Intercept's disclosure have displayed, perhaps in spite of themselves, that they lack the courage of their own convictions. In an article published Sept. 24, the Atlantic, unable or unwilling to delve into what the Intercept's document actually meant, if anything, settled for declaring that it made the lab-leak debate "even messier."

    The magazine's Daniel Engber and Adam Federman wrote: "Does the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have an unnatural origin? The answer hasn’t changed: probably not. But we have learned something quite disturbing in the past few days, simply from how and when this information came to light."

    By pretending that the debate itself is important, as if both sides have something to offer, they manage to report on a claim that has no substance. The approach also protects journalists from their persistent fear of landing on the wrong side of things — the authors give themselves a defense in the event that the lab-leak hypothesis turns out to be true, as unlikely as that is. If that happens, they can point to their lily-livered observations and say, "See, we knew it all along."

    In this debate, however, the zoonotic camp has evidence and the lab-leak camp nothing to offer but innuendo.

    Here's the true state of the discussion. There is no evidence that the virus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory or any other lab. There is no evidence that the Wuhan lab was working with a bat virus that had anything but a very distant resemblance to SARS-CoV-2. Viruses that resemble it much more closely have been found in natural settings a thousand miles from Wuhan, as the crow, or bat, flies.

    Evidence that artificial manipulation of a virus gave rise to SARS-CoV-2 has faded, as scientists find more evidence that features of SARS-CoV-2 thought to be unnatural occur in nature. Meanwhile, evidence for zoonotic transmission is constantly accumulating. No one who reports on the issue without acknowledging these two trends should be trusted.

    This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.


    Source: Yahoo! news





    Note: No Turners, Kunstlers or Orlovs were harmed during the creation of this post.
    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

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