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Not surprising at all considering Wuhan Lab scientists admitted on video they were bitten by bats and they had lax to no safety standards. https://www.taiwannew

Not surprising at all considering Wuhan Lab scientists admitted on video they were bitten by bats and they had lax to no safety standards. https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4102619 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4102619 > A video released two years before the start of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic shows Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists being cavalier toward protective equipment and being bitten by bats that carry deadly viruses such as SARS, demonstrating a lax safety culture in the lab. > On Dec. 29, 2017, Chinese state-run TV released a video designed to showcase Shi Zhengli, (石正麗), also known as "Bat Woman," and her team of scientists at the WIV in their quest to find the origin of SARS. Despite the fact that the scientists work in a biosafety level 4 lab, they show a shocking disregard for safety when handling potentially infectious bats both in the wild and in the lab. > From 4:45 to 4:56, a scientist can be seen holding a bat with his bare hands. Team members from 7:44 to 7:50 can be seen collecting potentially highly infectious bat feces while wearing short sleeves and shorts and with no noticeable personal protective equipment (PPE) other than gloves. > Virus researcher Cui Jie (崔杰) relates his experiences of being bitten from 8:47 to 8:50. He said that the bat's fangs went right through his glove, which was likely nitrile. He described the feeling as "like being jabbed with a needle." The video then cuts to a person's limb showing swelling after a bat bite. That provides a plausible origin scenario of the pandemic: In October 2019, a researcher at the Wuhan Lab was bitten by a bat, got infected (asymptomatically), went home and unknowingly infected other people in the community, and the virus spread from there. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever know what happened. Those who were directly involved with the early stage of the outbreak will never speak up, because Beijing issued a complete gag order on what happened. Anyone that speaks about the early stages of the pandemic be charged with espionage, and if found guilty, they can receive the death penalty. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/11/9833532bb925-chinas-authorities-issue-gag-order-about-virus-to-doctors-in-wuhan.html https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/11/9833532bb925-chin...

yabones 5y ago
Indeed, this type of carelessness adds to the inherent danger of researching highly infectious diseases. Labs leak all the time, for example the original SARS escaped from labs at least three times [1]: > The recent announcement of nine cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome linked to China's National Institute of Virology brings to three the number of lab outbreaks of the disease in the past eight months. It's also happened dozens of times in the US, UK, and former Soviet Union. Tuberculosis, Smallpox, various flu viruses have all escaped from "secure" labs. [2] [3] Maybe studying viruses isn't as safe as we thought. --- [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/05/29/sars-cases-in-asia-show-labs-risks/4c28a35a-e673-4953-a6a8-1e61c366c1c8/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/05/29/s... [2] https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-virology-research-center-hit-by-blast-fire/30167495.html https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-virology-research-center-hit... [3] https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/29/1978-accidental-birmingham-laboratory-release-smallpox-virus-are-lessons-l https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/29/1978-accidenta...
Florin_Andrei 5y ago
> Not surprising at all Given that the amount of evidence is exactly zero, anyone can spin their favorite "unsurprising" theories all day long.
searine 5y ago
>That provides a plausible origin scenario of the pandemic Plausible but it gets us no closer to the truth unfortunately. There are many plausible origins, but it is important we do not mistake plausible for the most likely. I agree though, the CCP has massively hindered this search for truth and will likely continue to do so, all to save face.
splithalf 5y ago
The innocent have nothing to hide.
pishpash 5y ago
You'd need to find that bat that you imagine bit someone in October 2019, swab its nose or anus and sequence for SARS-CoV-2, because the closest known bat virus relative to SARS-CoV-2 has a decades-long evolutionary gap to it. Oh, also viruses don't get virulent in the new host the moment the zoonotic transfer occurs. It takes a bit of time to evolve and adapt.
1024core 5y ago
Unfortunately, there is a big gap between the viruses found in nature, and SARS-Cov-2 that bit humanity on the ass. We have not found an "evolutionary trail", so to speak between the two. You would think that if something evolves from A to B, that you'd find variants interpolating the two stages. In natural evolution, that's always the case. But in the case of SARS-Cov-2, this new virus magically appears in Wuhan.
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaTG13#Phylogenetic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaTG13#Phylogenetic we're not hopelessly lost though? It seems like no matter what the "origin" is, just chasing around Hubei sequencing animal droppings is going to allow us to refine the above nicely.

yabones 5y ago

Indeed, this type of carelessness adds to the inherent danger of researching highly infectious diseases. Labs leak all the time, for example the original SARS escaped from labs at least three times [1]: > The recent announcement of nine cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome linked to China's National Institute of Virology brings to three the number of lab outbreaks of the disease in the past eight months. It's also happened dozens of times in the US, UK, and former Soviet Union. Tuberculosis, Smallpox, various flu viruses have all escaped from "secure" labs. [2] [3] Maybe studying viruses isn't as safe as we thought. --- [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/05/29/sars-cases-in-asia-show-labs-risks/4c28a35a-e673-4953-a6a8-1e61c366c1c8/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/05/29/s... [2] https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-virology-research-center-hit-by-blast-fire/30167495.html https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-virology-research-center-hit... [3] https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/29/1978-accidental-birmingham-laboratory-release-smallpox-virus-are-lessons-l https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/29/1978-accidenta...

Florin_Andrei 5y ago

> Not surprising at all Given that the amount of evidence is exactly zero, anyone can spin their favorite "unsurprising" theories all day long.

searine 5y ago

>That provides a plausible origin scenario of the pandemic Plausible but it gets us no closer to the truth unfortunately. There are many plausible origins, but it is important we do not mistake plausible for the most likely. I agree though, the CCP has massively hindered this search for truth and will likely continue to do so, all to save face.

splithalf 5y ago

The innocent have nothing to hide.

pishpash 5y ago

You'd need to find that bat that you imagine bit someone in October 2019, swab its nose or anus and sequence for SARS-CoV-2, because the closest known bat virus relative to SARS-CoV-2 has a decades-long evolutionary gap to it. Oh, also viruses don't get virulent in the new host the moment the zoonotic transfer occurs. It takes a bit of time to evolve and adapt.

1024core 5y ago

Unfortunately, there is a big gap between the viruses found in nature, and SARS-Cov-2 that bit humanity on the ass. We have not found an "evolutionary trail", so to speak between the two. You would think that if something evolves from A to B, that you'd find variants interpolating the two stages. In natural evolution, that's always the case. But in the case of SARS-Cov-2, this new virus magically appears in Wuhan.

Ericson2314 5y ago
Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaTG13#Phylogenetic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaTG13#Phylogenetic we're not hopelessly lost though? It seems like no matter what the "origin" is, just chasing around Hubei sequencing animal droppings is going to allow us to refine the above nicely.