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The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

technologyreview.com

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Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#181

Post by malaya_zemlya »

towergratis wrote: post #81
jkingsbery wrote: post #75

So, to summarize-the-summary: there are four possible theories: 1. Direct-jump from bat population 2. Started in bats, came to humans through intermediate animal 3. Came from frozen food outside of China 4. Lab accident. I used to think the lab accident theory was crazy, because it sounds like a science fiction movie. Not an impossible theory, just a crazy one. But according to this article, despite a year of investi…

> I used to think the lab accident theory was crazy Accidents happen. Even if it was a lab accident, it's not a reason to be outraged with the Chinese government. I think in parallel to searching for the origin, they should also look into the reports that Chinese government tried to hid it under the carpet and only admitting that it couldn't control it after it was already spread all over the world. That's the real c…

there is a precedent with an outbreak of anthrax caused by a faulty vent in a secret soviet military lab.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sverdlovsk_anthrax_leak

Coincidentally, the local Communist Party also placed the blame on meat from the local farmers' market.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#182

Post by doopy1 »

jkingsbery wrote: post #75

So, to summarize-the-summary: there are four possible theories: 1. Direct-jump from bat population 2. Started in bats, came to humans through intermediate animal 3. Came from frozen food outside of China 4. Lab accident. I used to think the lab accident theory was crazy, because it sounds like a science fiction movie. Not an impossible theory, just a crazy one. But according to this article, despite a year of investi…

Lab leak always seemed like the most obvious strong possibility considering that Wuhan was the epicenter and the epic reaction.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#183

Post by redis_mlc »

Touche wrote: post #62
tzs wrote: post #59

> “If this is a man-made catastrophe,” says Miles Yu, an analyst with the conservative Hudson Institute, “I think the world should seek reparations.” That would open an interesting can of worms. 1. It is common under many (most?) legal systems for those harmed by another's negligence to have a duty to mitigate damages. For example, if I'm burning something on my property and an ember from my fire sets something on fi…

On the world stage there is no court system. All you have is sanctions and war. And it seems unlikely that any significant number of countries are going to sanction an economic power like China over an accident. Look at the weak sanctions put on Russia which annexed a neighbor, and routinely assassinates political rivals.

> an economic power like China

Says who? China is a desperately weak country in reality:

- they import half of some foods

- their "GDP" is a real estate bubble

- they rely on US capital markets and non-payment of interest.

- most BRI loans will never get repaid.

- 1/7 of citizens are underemployed or worse.

- they have a demographic time bomb.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#184

Post by pstuart »

shawnz wrote: post #118
towergratis wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, although we are a bit better here in west, we are still far from perfect. Letting the POTUS call it China virus, is despicable.

I agree that was in poor taste, but would you say the naming of "Zika virus", "Ebola virus", or "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome" is despicable?

In the OP's case it was done for deflection of blame rather than trying to track where the mutations are first noted.

You might have noticed there's some stuff in the news about hate crimes against asians -- there's a direct correlation there.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#185

Post by bandushrew »

jkingsbery wrote: post #75

So, to summarize-the-summary: there are four possible theories: 1. Direct-jump from bat population 2. Started in bats, came to humans through intermediate animal 3. Came from frozen food outside of China 4. Lab accident. I used to think the lab accident theory was crazy, because it sounds like a science fiction movie. Not an impossible theory, just a crazy one. But according to this article, despite a year of investi…

I keep wondering how long it would take for a new cold virus to be recognised as such here in NZ.

When you think about how common the basic symptoms are, I think it could take quite a while before someone wondered whether it was different from the common cold and went testing.

IMO Its a perfectly reasonable theory that it was spreading slowly through China for months, from some distant province, and it wasn't recognised as a new virus until it arrived somewhere there was the expertise to look at it in the right way.

That would mean that the reason it was found in Wuhan and not anywhere else is just because Wuhan was the first place with people who had the expertise and the interest to investigate and figure out it was new.

Whatever the truth is, that is just as good a theory as any other, and it explains the apparent evidence for the virus appearing a few months earlier in some countries.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#186

Post by stevegalla »

shawnz wrote: post #118
towergratis wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, although we are a bit better here in west, we are still far from perfect. Letting the POTUS call it China virus, is despicable.

I agree that was in poor taste, but would you say the naming of "Zika virus", "Ebola virus", or "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome" is despicable?

The WHO has issued guidance in 2015 to avoid naming issues such as you described from continuing to occur.

https://www.who.int/news/item/08-05-2015-who-issues-best-pra...

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#187

Post by Mountain_Skies »

pstuart wrote: post #184
shawnz wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that was in poor taste, but would you say the naming of "Zika virus", "Ebola virus", or "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome" is despicable?

In the OP's case it was done for deflection of blame rather than trying to track where the mutations are first noted. You might have noticed there's some stuff in the news about hate crimes against asians -- there's a direct correlation there.

You may have also noticed that one of the most active stories on HN right now is 'How U.S. media lost the trust of the public'.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#188

Post by KiwiJohnno »

ttoomm28 wrote: post #121
towergratis wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, although we are a bit better here in west, we are still far from perfect. Letting the POTUS call it China virus, is despicable.

Strange word to describe that, seems rather fair actually. Do you think UK, south African, brazilian variant are 'despicable' ?

The thing is, the virus already had a name. He just refused to call it by its official name, because that wasn't offensive enough for him.

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#189

Post by gjvnq »

jkingsbery wrote: post #75

So, to summarize-the-summary: there are four possible theories: 1. Direct-jump from bat population 2. Started in bats, came to humans through intermediate animal 3. Came from frozen food outside of China 4. Lab accident. I used to think the lab accident theory was crazy, because it sounds like a science fiction movie. Not an impossible theory, just a crazy one. But according to this article, despite a year of investi…

You might be interested in this document:

Evidence SARS-CoV-2 Emerged From a Biological Laboratory in Wuhan, China. Available at: https://project-evidence.github.io/

Re: The WHO-China search for the origins of the coronavirus

#190

Post by happyconcepts »

jkingsbery wrote: post #75

So, to summarize-the-summary: there are four possible theories: 1. Direct-jump from bat population 2. Started in bats, came to humans through intermediate animal 3. Came from frozen food outside of China 4. Lab accident. I used to think the lab accident theory was crazy, because it sounds like a science fiction movie. Not an impossible theory, just a crazy one. But according to this article, despite a year of investi…

Why is option #5 never on the table for examination?

Option 5: Bioweapon.

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