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Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

wsj.com

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Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#221

Post by petre »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #112
ttul wrote: post #11

The This Week In Virology podcast has been talking about the lab leak concept since the early days of the pandemic, with various experts opining on the likelihood. In [1], the expert discusses how the virus itself does not seem engineered; it’s most likely a naturally created virus. However, this is exactly the sort of virus that they study at the BSL4 lab in Wuhan, quite legitimately - and they produce good science…

[flagged]

Maybe they don't have enough evidence to support the lab leak hypothesis. Or maybe they want to prevent China from supplying weapons to Russia for the time being and they're playing the cautios stance while they don't have enough evidence. We will find out eventually in five to ten years or so. The lab leak hypothesis is quite probable.

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#222

Post by BurningFrog »

boeingUH60 wrote: post #6

Nothing seems certain at this point, but, let’s say the pandemic was actually caused by a lab leak. That’ll mean the world was brought to an economic standstill and millions of people died because of the errors and carelessness of some people…will there be consequences? What will be the assurance that such deadly mistake won’t occur again? If it was actually a lab leak, then it’ll definitely rank as the most costly a…

I'd still say the Iraq War was most costly and fatal mistake in the 21st Century.

Hard to compare, admittedly.

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#223

Post by abduhl »

stevehawk wrote: post #206
abduhl wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the substantive difference between "Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says" and "Lab Leak Most Likely Caused Pandemic, Energy Dept. Says"? The only difference I see is that one notes the pandemic ("Covid-19") while the other notes the agency ("Energy Dept."). Or is your comment more broadly that both headlines are bad? If so, then I'd disagree. Both headlines give the most impo…

> Both headlines give the most important part of the story: a US agency currently believes that the pandemic was caused by a lab leak. seems to me you're still leaving out a very important part of the news, which is that the confidence level is "low". so right now the US government has multiple theories, none of which it is confident. it's just that of the reports that is not confident in, it might be the least not c…

The confidence level for the Covid-19 vaccine being sterilizing was low, but we still ran headlines saying as much. The confidence level for cloth masks being effective was low, but we still ran headlines saying as much. The confidence level for everything when it comes to Covid-19 is low.

The media gave up on integrity a long time ago, especially with respect to the pandemic. You're just noticing it now?

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#225

Post by jimbob45 »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #112
ttul wrote: post #11

The This Week In Virology podcast has been talking about the lab leak concept since the early days of the pandemic, with various experts opining on the likelihood. In [1], the expert discusses how the virus itself does not seem engineered; it’s most likely a naturally created virus. However, this is exactly the sort of virus that they study at the BSL4 lab in Wuhan, quite legitimately - and they produce good science…

[flagged]

Didn’t Trump literally call it the “China virus” for over a year? Almost from the start? I know he got a lot of pushback from the DNC over that.

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#226

Post by saboot »

wizofaus wrote: post #157
ttul wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firstly, the DOE has expertise in areas such as biosecurity, biodefense, and biological threat reduction, and is responsible for managing national laboratories and supporting research in various scientific fields. Just one example of this is the HAMMER facility at Hanford, WA, where DOE can train people to deal with all manner of disasters. https://hammer.hanford.gov/ Given the potential for a laboratory-originating…

It's still not obvious why any of those functions are the remit of the Department of Energy though. Defence I could understand.

If your point is that the department of energy is badly named, you are 100% correct. It's more like the "department of applied science towards security, energy, and nuclear bombs"

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#228

Post by sampo »

2-718-281-828 wrote: post #112
ttul wrote: post #11

The This Week In Virology podcast has been talking about the lab leak concept since the early days of the pandemic, with various experts opining on the likelihood. In [1], the expert discusses how the virus itself does not seem engineered; it’s most likely a naturally created virus. However, this is exactly the sort of virus that they study at the BSL4 lab in Wuhan, quite legitimately - and they produce good science…

[flagged]

> why does the US actively support this cover up?

If it was a lab leak from Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), it was likely from a research program partially funded by USA.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-...

"a zoologist named Peter Daszak, who has repackaged U.S. government grants and allocated them to facilities conducting gain-of-function research—among them the WIV itself."

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#229

Post by imiric »

zzzeek wrote: post #163

perhaps this is to pressure China into allowing the WHO investigation, which they have blocked [1], to proceed. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00283-y

Why does it even matter at this point?

The WHO investigation in 2020, and subsequent report, was a complete sham. The CCP has the WHO in their back pocket. Nothing they say has any relevance in the matter.

Re: Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

#230

Post by friend_and_foe »

this_user wrote: post #199
cc101 wrote: post #106

How can they tell the difference between a lab leak and a deliberate release to explore the world's reaction to a viral weapon?

Because deliberately releasing a virus that is so infectious that it will cause a global pandemic and will inevitably hit your own country is a bloody stupid thing to do. Everyone loses, unless you already have a vaccine that you can sell. And if you are trying to insinuate that it might have been the Chinese that released it, it becomes even more bloody stupid, because you would obviously never release it on your ow…

Its not a stupid thing to do when:

1) You're facing a demographic crisis due to your aging population and your next closest rival has a population of which half are under 30,

2) the virus primarily kills the elderly,

3) your approach to increasing influence and power is to increase your relative position and your relative position is decreasing after decades of increasing, and

4) you can cause an economic crisis for your rivals when they shut public life, and consequently their economies, down, and thus increase your relative position in the world.

I won't comment on any western motivations for going along with it.

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