>Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.
I knew it from the day 1; my layman understanding was that Covid variants in nature are not that virulent as Covid-19. Covid-19 was GOF experiment which went wrong in a sense that it lab leaked. Lab leaks happen all the time but not as impactful as this one. We should learn from our mistakes not sweep them under the carpet.
As pointed out on HN yesterday, it’s the Republicans in the Senate. It’s political. When will we learn?
What period of time could a less severe variant(s) have escaped into the wild before the more severe 'Alpha' variant gained traction? AFAIK, China, & others, were treating non-influenza, flu-like cases months before they cancelled Chinese New Year 2020. The timeline may not have been as short as a Stephen King novel and, perhaps, it was even prior to Oct/Nov 2019. My question is this: Are there any frequent/infrequent travelers to China familiar with non-asian visitors getting severe influenza(or other) infections when they 1st visit? I know one such traveler who spent 3 months in a "ghost room"(1) suffering from a lung infection back in early 2019.
(1) Hospice; he reported it as called the 'ghost room' as the rest of the occupants were terminal cancer patients.
Why is this flagged? It's a report from the US Senate.
It reports a significant finding:
> Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.
Look at all of the cautionary language in this statement. This isn't a group of Republicans fear mongering. It's a group trying to make sense of the information that currently exists.
Knowing the origin of the pandemic is the only way we can hope to prevent the next one. This topic is not a political issue, it's a scientific and humanitarian one.
In these circumstances, does it matter to public safety whether it did or didn't? It seems more important to me whether it COULD or COULD NEVER originate like this. I think things are tilted pretty heavily towards the COULD side. So if we, as a species, continue research like this (and I think we need to), it needs to be strictly quarantined. If you set foot in a facility like this, you don't get to rejoin the rest of society until you go through a multi-week quarantine site. It's remote work.
Can we actually discuss this, or are people still freaking out? This was incredibly obvious, even early, early on. Suppression isn’t good, folks.
I've been following this discussion from the start, and this report presents the clearest and most compelling summary of the evidence I've seen so far.
Excerpt from the conclusion on p.26:
"Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident. New information, made publicly available and independently verifiable, could change this assessment. However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy."