Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

There's substantial political interest in all this of course, as it sets us in further opposition to China.

Here, for example, is the Heritage Foundation:

https://www.heritage.org/public-hea...st-latest-deflection-covid-19-lab-leak-theory

I don't disagree with Alma that the evidence available to us is incomplete.

I disagree with the idea some conclusion can be reached based on that partial evidence.

 

But some of your responses don't reflect that same appreciation of uncertainty.

 

I'm certain there's uncertainty about the origin of Covid.

As I have been from the beginning.

Because there's no decisive evidence either way - lab leak or Wuhan market.

That China has muddled, and controlled access, to that evidence, whatever it may be, is a given.

I'm further certain there's been no evidence of an intentional leak; of a weaponization / gain of function effort gone wrong; or of an international vaccination conspiracy.

 

It's all about my tribe versus your tribe versus their tribe and so on.

 

Oh, at least the basics of the "necessary" evidence have long been in place. The "sufficient," however ...

 

While I agree there's some evidence of . . . something, I'm not sure it advances an argument on either side of the GoF / intentional weaponization debate.

NIH Documents Provide New Evidence U.S. Funded Gain-of-Function Research in Wuhan

Scientists unanimously told The Intercept that the experiment, which involved infecting genetically engineered mice with “chimeric” hybrid viruses, could not have directly sparked the pandemic. None of the viruses listed in the write-ups of the experiment are related to the virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, closely enough to have evolved into it. Still, several scientists said the new information, which the NIH released after it was sued by The Intercept, points to biosafety concerns, highlighting a general lack of oversight for research on pathogens and raising questions about what other information has not been publicly disclosed.

 

Meanwhile, this:

 

Oh

Chinese Censorship Is Quietly Rewriting the Covid-19 Story

Under pressure from their government, Chinese scientists have withheld data, withdrawn genetic sequences from public databases and altered crucial details in journal submissions. Western journal editors enabled those efforts by agreeing to those edits or withdrawing papers for murky reasons, a review by The Times of over a dozen retracted papers found.

The data withheld favors zoonotic spread, FYI

 

We knew that, though. Right?

China - the original hermit kingdom - has withheld Covid information from the very beginning.

December 15, 2019:

https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/docu...Summary-of-Assessment-on-COVID-19-Origins.pdf

China’s cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins
of COVID-19. Beijing, however, continues to hinder the global investigation, resist sharing
information and blame other countries, including the United States. These actions reflect, in
part, China’s government’s own uncertainty about where an investigation could lead as well as
its frustration the international community is using the issue to exert political pressure on China.

 

If the Trump team had perfect insight into how Covid-19 got into the world on Day 1, how would it have changed the response any, if at all?

 

I think we know the answer to that.

 

What does Jordan Peterson think about Covid?