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This seems unlikely given that it was first a disaster for China On that note, from the very beginning China's reaction appeared extreme and overbearing, but i

This seems unlikely given that it was first a disaster for China On that note, from the very beginning China's reaction appeared extreme and overbearing, but in hindsight it worked better than most other countries' responses. The question is... if other countries had known that it was from an accidental leak would they and the population in general have taken it much more seriously? I think they would have. If it were proven to be from a leak would there be less vaccine hesitancy? I think so too. The strongest contrarian argument against doing anything was always "it's just a flu" and some variation of "let nature take its course."

dstroot 5y ago
The source is irrelevant to to the virulence. We were able to measure the virulence from the start. That should be the guide for our response. A natural virus could evolve to be very dangerous and a lab leak could give you a sore throat for a day. Origin != danger level.
- dahfizz 5y ago
  That's not what GP is saying. Facts and figures are next to worthless when trying to motivate billions of people to do something. If people hear "Covid gives you flu symptoms", they aren't going to care. If people hear "Covid is an experimental virus that escaped from a lab", that's scary and people will care more.
  - belltaco 5y ago
    Nah, the people who deny the severity of covid will do the same, because of their masters who downplay it for political purposes and for personal inconvenience. You can see it play out right now in a certain part of the political spectrum. "Covid is just a flu, don't need to risk a vaccine from it, but also it's a very dangerous virus released by Chyna".
belltaco 5y ago
>On that note, from the very beginning China's reaction appeared extreme and overbearing No, it actually did not. It was clear that they tried to hide it and downplay it in the beginning. But once the cat was out of the bag and you could see picture of clinics overcrowding, they figured out it as quite deadly. They were able to use both the lessons of SARS(due to which people were much more amenable to drastic measures) and being a totalitarian regime to suppress it.

dstroot 5y ago

The source is irrelevant to to the virulence. We were able to measure the virulence from the start. That should be the guide for our response. A natural virus could evolve to be very dangerous and a lab leak could give you a sore throat for a day. Origin != danger level.

dahfizz 5y ago
That's not what GP is saying. Facts and figures are next to worthless when trying to motivate billions of people to do something. If people hear "Covid gives you flu symptoms", they aren't going to care. If people hear "Covid is an experimental virus that escaped from a lab", that's scary and people will care more.
- belltaco 5y ago
  Nah, the people who deny the severity of covid will do the same, because of their masters who downplay it for political purposes and for personal inconvenience. You can see it play out right now in a certain part of the political spectrum. "Covid is just a flu, don't need to risk a vaccine from it, but also it's a very dangerous virus released by Chyna".

belltaco 5y ago

>On that note, from the very beginning China's reaction appeared extreme and overbearing No, it actually did not. It was clear that they tried to hide it and downplay it in the beginning. But once the cat was out of the bag and you could see picture of clinics overcrowding, they figured out it as quite deadly. They were able to use both the lessons of SARS(due to which people were much more amenable to drastic measures) and being a totalitarian regime to suppress it.