5 ms·

It doesn’t actually matter. The things SARS-CoV-2 can do already existed inside the world of bat viruses and bat immunology. What happened is that it found an “

It doesn’t actually matter. The things SARS-CoV-2 can do already existed inside the world of bat viruses and bat immunology. What happened is that it found an “adapter” to fit to human cells. It could have been a lab leak, it could have been pure chance in a biologically risk-pressurized environment, and it doesn’t matter. It messes us up. It is a threat to the health and wellbeing of people. It’s surprisingly easy to stop transmission, and surprisingly difficult to work with after infection. There’s a lot of clear scientific knowledge on actions we can take. The academic papers on this mostly lay unread. There is a waiting time from clear scientific results in molecular biology to medical and engineering applications, and this waiting time is far, far too long. Not as in “move fast and break things”, but rather “doctors should read”.

questinthrow 3y ago
Why doesn't it matter that it's a lab leak?
- stravant 3y ago
  Because labs can't build a virus from the ground up. They'd be working from an existing virus and only making the smallest of adjustments.
  - ObscureScience 3y ago
    Is anyone even suggesting a genetically modified virus?
    - fullspectrumdev 3y ago
      Yes, mostly fucking idiots.
      - ObscureScience 3y ago
        Ok, I'm not excluding the possibility of a lab leak, but I would expect it to be just badly handled regular microbiological/pathological research rather than genetic engineering.
- vasdae 3y ago
  Back when it was hard to prove that it was a lab leak, the theory was censored and we were called crazy. Now that it is obvious that it was a lab leak, we are told it doesn't really matter.
  - pts_ 3y ago
    It's still contested isn't it?
- baq 3y ago
  It’s there out in the wild, knowing it escaped from a lab is literally irrelevant to treatment
  - mandmandam 3y ago
    Knowing how it started might help develop treatments, and that seems like a really weird thing to ignore. If it was a lableak, then there's documents and data that would have been extremely helpful, and which still matter. There's also the other benefits of knowing: public health preparedness, scientific research policies, global biosecurity, international relations and trust, legal and ethical accountability, zoonotic spillover research, public clarity, etc. It completely baffles me that people are still dismissing the lableak theory as unimportant.
  - johnchristopher 3y ago
    What kind of insurance did that lab have and in which country should I sue if it's a leak ?
gls2ro 3y ago
> It’s surprisingly easy to stop transmission I am afraid this is not true. It is not easy to stop transmission. I dont have on my phone links to studies but I remember that all mechanism we have except quarantine are working within a probability range. With all measures that we took for this virus it is now probably in all communities around the glob.
- AnthonBerg 3y ago
  I understand. I swear, however: It is surprisingly easy, it is literally surprising to learn how easy it is to stop transmission. It’s essentially this: People breathe it out. Don’t breathe it in. We have filtration materials that strip it out of the air. It has been easy to avoid infection. I have found it easy. Mechanically speaking. Socially, it has been difficult. Because of severe failures of judgement made by people in positions of responsibility in public health organizations. Because of obviously incorrect guidance. I am aware that this is an extraordinarily tall claim. I ask to be forgiven, ask for your consideration, promise that I am in good faith and under a moral obligation to point to this. Here’s one reference for it out of many available: What Were the Historical Reasons for the Resistance to Recognizing Airborne Transmission during the COVID-19 Pandemic?, submitted 2021, published 2022 – https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3904176 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3904176 — edit: There are also recent studies which show that immunization does confer blocking protection, if the inhaled dose is lowered. Apologies; Am out of time, there’s a child to attend to.

questinthrow 3y ago

Why doesn't it matter that it's a lab leak?

stravant 3y ago
Because labs can't build a virus from the ground up. They'd be working from an existing virus and only making the smallest of adjustments.
- ObscureScience 3y ago
  Is anyone even suggesting a genetically modified virus?
  - fullspectrumdev 3y ago
    Yes, mostly fucking idiots.
    - ObscureScience 3y ago
      Ok, I'm not excluding the possibility of a lab leak, but I would expect it to be just badly handled regular microbiological/pathological research rather than genetic engineering.
vasdae 3y ago
Back when it was hard to prove that it was a lab leak, the theory was censored and we were called crazy. Now that it is obvious that it was a lab leak, we are told it doesn't really matter.
- pts_ 3y ago
  It's still contested isn't it?
baq 3y ago
It’s there out in the wild, knowing it escaped from a lab is literally irrelevant to treatment
- mandmandam 3y ago
  Knowing how it started might help develop treatments, and that seems like a really weird thing to ignore. If it was a lableak, then there's documents and data that would have been extremely helpful, and which still matter. There's also the other benefits of knowing: public health preparedness, scientific research policies, global biosecurity, international relations and trust, legal and ethical accountability, zoonotic spillover research, public clarity, etc. It completely baffles me that people are still dismissing the lableak theory as unimportant.
- johnchristopher 3y ago
  What kind of insurance did that lab have and in which country should I sue if it's a leak ?

gls2ro 3y ago

> It’s surprisingly easy to stop transmission I am afraid this is not true. It is not easy to stop transmission. I dont have on my phone links to studies but I remember that all mechanism we have except quarantine are working within a probability range. With all measures that we took for this virus it is now probably in all communities around the glob.

AnthonBerg 3y ago
I understand. I swear, however: It is surprisingly easy, it is literally surprising to learn how easy it is to stop transmission. It’s essentially this: People breathe it out. Don’t breathe it in. We have filtration materials that strip it out of the air. It has been easy to avoid infection. I have found it easy. Mechanically speaking. Socially, it has been difficult. Because of severe failures of judgement made by people in positions of responsibility in public health organizations. Because of obviously incorrect guidance. I am aware that this is an extraordinarily tall claim. I ask to be forgiven, ask for your consideration, promise that I am in good faith and under a moral obligation to point to this. Here’s one reference for it out of many available: What Were the Historical Reasons for the Resistance to Recognizing Airborne Transmission during the COVID-19 Pandemic?, submitted 2021, published 2022 – https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3904176 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3904176 — edit: There are also recent studies which show that immunization does confer blocking protection, if the inhaled dose is lowered. Apologies; Am out of time, there’s a child to attend to.