How did covid-19 begin? It's initial origin story is shaky.

[Ponietz]

From David Ignatius at Washington Post—
...

“There’s a competing theory — of an accidental lab release of bat coronavirus — that scientists have been puzzling about for weeks. Less than 300 yards from the seafood market is the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from that facility and the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology have posted articles about collecting bat coronaviruses from around China, for study to prevent future illness. Did one of those samples leak, or was hazardous waste deposited in a place where it could spread?

“Richard Ebright, a Rutgers microbiologist and biosafety expert, told me in an email that “the first human infection could have occurred as a natural accident,” with the virus passing from bat to human, possibly through another animal. But Ebright cautioned that it “also could have occurred as a laboratory accident, with, for example, an accidental infection of a laboratory worker.” He noted that bat coronaviruses were studied in Wuhan at Biosafety Level 2, “which provides only minimal protection,” compared with the top BSL-4.

“Ebright described a December video from the Wuhan CDC that shows staffers “collecting bat coronaviruses with inadequate [personal protective equipment] and unsafe operational practices.” Separately, I reviewed two Chinese articles, from 2017 and 2019, describing the heroics of Wuhan CDC researcher Tian Junhua, who while capturing bats in a cave “forgot to take protective measures” so that “bat urine dripped from the top of his head like raindrops.”
...
“And then there’s the Chinese study that was curiously withdrawn. In February, a site called ResearchGate published a brief article by Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao from Guangzhou’s South China University of Technology. “In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high risk biohazardous laboratories,” the article concluded. Botao Xiao told the Wall Street Journal in February that he had withdrawn the paper because it “was not supported by direct proofs.”

“Accidents happen, human or laboratory. Solving the mystery of how covid-19 began isn’t a blame game, but a chance for China and the United States to cooperate in a crisis, and prevent a future one.“

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-did-covid-19-begin-its-initial-origin-story-is-shaky/2020/04/02/1475d488-7521-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html|

[underpants]

1. Interesting and informative read. I am sure this is going right into the conspiracy theory and

demeaning memes generator as we speak.

[The Magistrate]

3. I Expect You Are Right, Sir

Just the sort of 'tinge o' truth' serious woo requires for traction....

[LiberalArkie]

2. I have tended to believe this from the start. It blew up way too big, way too fast in that area.

And "Shit Happens".

[Laelth]

4. Fascinating. Thank you for posting. n/t

-Laelth

[magicarpet]

5. Shhhh,. Shush,...

Whisper about this softly among yourselves,... don't let this thought go public.

The thread zap alert team will go Code Red ... Def con Five,... Panic Alert, and lock down this sort of thinking lickety split.

It is best to steer clear of subjects like Stonehenge and who placed those monoliths there ? If you contribute any thoughts or ideas it could be immediately tagged and labeled conspiracy theories and speculations. Careful your threads and comments are not branded as such.


The whooo alert team is always on stand by looking to zap your thoughts.

[Igel]

6. Accidents happen.

On the other hand, the difference is whether it's from a bat via a critter sold in the kind of market that enables zoonotic diseases or from a lab.

It's fairly clear that it wasn't edited to make it more virulent. It's the ability to adapt to human physiology and opportunity to make the jump that's at issue.

The two paths basically ask whether it went from bat to person or bat to some intermediary. The later's usually the case in previous outbreaks, and likely here.

Either way, it's Wuhan and some infection from near Wuhan.

Now, the idea that a virology lab would be collecting bat virus samples sounds scary. It depends on the level of trust.

There's a large bat colony at Austin, TX. When it was pointed out, the first comment from somebody with some sort of expertise said that either they'd sampled the bats to determine the viruses endemic to the colony or somebody should be out there the next morning doing that.

In other words, if they didn't do in Austin what the folk in Wuhan were doing, they must.

As for the Xiao/Xiao article, the syntax is strange. If you have natural recombination and intermediate host, there's no need for the intermediate laboratory. Sounds like a list of possibilities being discussed, not an assertion as to the origin.

[MosheFeingold]

7. I could see either, really

The main reason to think it came from the lab is the host is a bat that is not native to the area —- lives about 800 miles away.

And the lab was experimenting with this virus and the bats.

Sure someone could of sold the bats and they wandered far along the chain of commerce. Heck I’m eating grapes today from 1300 miles away.

Or even a combo— some idiot employee at the lab is told to kill some experimented in bats and decided to make a buck and sell them.

But I lean to the slippery fingers in wet test tube theory.