USA TODAY Deleted gene sequences confirm coronavirus circulated before Wuhan seafood market

[ShazamIam]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: USA Today


The virus that causes COVID-19 did not originate at the Wuhan seafood market, confirms a new study of deleted gene sequences from the virus' earliest days.

The sequences had been posted to a website run by the National Institutes of Health, but were removed for unknown reasons.

Finding earlier sequences like these might help reveal new insights into the SARS-CoV-2 virus' earliest days, said Jesse Bloom, the article's author, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

His new report, which has not yet been peer reviewed, does not suggest an answer to the question of whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumped directly from animals to people or was accidentally leaked from a research lab in Wuhan, China.

"I hope scientifically, we can get beyond just arguing about that," said Bloom, who in May joined a global call for more information about the earliest days of the outbreak.



Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/deleted-gene-sequences-confirm-coronavirus-circulated-before-wuhan-seafood-market/ar-AALtfHM?li=BBnb7Kz

[Phoenix61]

1. That headline is incredibly misleading and Bloom is an ass.

“The sequences had been posted to a website run by the National Institutes of Health, but were removed for unknown reasons.” This is bs as the article later states:
"The requestor indicated the sequence information had been updated, was being submitted to another database, and wanted the data removed from SRA (the Sequence Read Archive) to avoid version control issues," the NIH said in a statement. "Submitting investigators hold the rights to their data and can request withdrawal of the data."

[drray23]

3. Thank you for clarifying.

I was already dreaming up bad scenarios where a Trump appointee would have done that in order to be able to blame China.. 🤪

[ShazamIam]

4. The article title has to be posted as originated.

[Phoenix61]

5. As it should be but they chose one that's incredibly misleading.nt

[CountAllVotes]

8. Exactly!

Considering the source!

[Chainfire]

6. The issue is very important to the Right

In their minds, if it originated in a lab, it excuses Trump's dismal failure to reduce the impact on our country.

Yea, I know.....

[The Mouth]

27. Or it justifies a trade, cold, or shooting war (in their minds)

Occam's razor indicates to me that it might not have been created in a lab, but the covering of asses by Party droids let it get one hell of a lot more foothold than it should have. Nor is it impossible that it was isolated and studied after being found in nature, but got out somehow.

A perfect application of Napoleon's dictum "Never ascribe to malice that which can be satisfactorily explained by incompetence"

[intheflow]

7. Were I to put my tinfoil hat on,

I'd guess the virus was planted by a Republican operative right before Trump abruptly pulled our scientist out of that Wuhan lab.

The timing is deeply suspicious, though.

[peppertree]

13. And we do know Cheeto was given to using mercenaries...

for illegal ops the Pentagon wouldn't approve.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article246819562.html

[Peachhead22]

19. "Some people say..."

smirk

[roamer65]

9. We will never know the true origin.

If I were to make a wild guess, I would guess it was zoonotic transfer in an area of deforestation.

That is how we came into contact with Ebola, if I remember right.

[intrepidity]

10. Blockchain technology to the rescue

Seems a perfectly suited application, to avoid issues like this.

[intrepidity]

11. Since this virus *didn't* come from WIV, as they maintain,

then the whole raison d'etre for WIV is invalidated. The purpose of GoF virology is to PREVENT a pandemic, and since, despite all their efforts, they managed to miss this one (literally in their backyard!), means they have failed badly and should cease operations, lest they manage to actually release some future deadly pathogen, which is a statistical liklihood.

Can't have it both ways.

[LisaL]

15. That's kind of simplistic. It's like saying that cancer researchers haven't

gotten rid of all cancers therefore they should cease operations.

[intrepidity]

17. No, it's not nt

[peppertree]

12. "...but were removed for unknown reasons."

[Passenger]

14. Oh goody!

This means bat soup is OK after all, right?

[IronLionZion]

16. I would still not recommend eating bats, just in case

There are some DUers convinced it started in Italy. And many deplorables think the solution is racism against Asian Americans.

[LisaL]

18. Seems no doubt it started in China.

Italy has a lot of Chinese working there. It likely started a while before first official cases, though.

[paleotn]

21. You're right. Think I'll skip the bats at supper tonight.

When they pass the bats, I'll pass them right back.

Seriously, when and where it jumped to humans is irrelevant. How we deal with pandemics after the jump is relevant and governments across the globe failed miserably combating what's been considered an inevitability for at least the last 50 years. Our federal and state governments are just some of the most egregious failures.

[IronLionZion]

24. Some countries did better than others at slowing the spread

while ours of course failed badly through malicious intent. But our country did well with developing good vaccines that the whole world wants.

Better preparation and clearer guidance should be good lessons learned for the next big pandemic, which may come sooner than people think. And to have a domestic supply of PPE and ventilators. I know I'm always going to keep some masks and disinfectant at home going forward.

As an introvert, I'd like to keep social distancing. As a multi-hour commuter in the past, I'd like to keep working from home.

[roamer65]

22. I would recommend us humans staying away from bats entirely.

They are known carriers of many coronaviruses.

Any close contact should be at a haz mat level.

[IronLionZion]

26. Indeed, people in the US have gotten rabies and worse from them.

some folks use bat guano as fertilizer.

[oldsoftie]

28. Genetically this has still not been connected to bats.

Or any other animal as far as i've read.
Thats the odd thing about it. Yes, bats carry many corona viruses, but the "jumped to humans" theory is still unproven.
If there's ONE thing that has always made me suspicious of this virus, its the long list of very odd symptoms & side effects. I've never heard of such a varied number of things; loss of taste & smell, blood clots, hair falling out, non stop headaches, etc. Just weird. But i also have zero medical back round, so maybe there ARE other corona viruses that have similar effect

[NNadir]

20. This proves that one cannot get a degree in journalism if one has passed a college level...

...science course with a grade of C or higher.

[paleotn]

23. Yep. They don't seem to spend much time on that side of campus.

Probably zero science in most core curriculums for journalism. Or so it seems anyway.

[IronLionZion]

25. I wonder what caused the tragic decline of journalism

maybe they can't hire the best people any more because of budget cuts or something like that.

[ShazamIam]

29. The kochnetwork spent 30 years cancelling and replacing professors in journalism, it was one

of their early targets. Where you are suppose to accept anti-democratic, even anti-constitutional studies to achieve, balance and equivalence. Bad, harmful to humans and the environment ideas are to be treated with respect.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2013/7/17/1224372/-Kochs-Influence-Peddling-Exposed-Blockbuster-Journalism

https://time.com/4148838/koch-brothers-colleges-universities/

[JudyM]

30. Locking

The forum hosts’ consensus is that this not-yet-peer-reviewed report is not significant enough to be “important news of national interest,” as required for posts in the Latest Breaking News forum.
Feel free to repost it in GD.