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Public service: This is now the link to the archived Fact Sheet released by the previous State Department concerning activities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that could point to possible #laborigins of the covid-19 virus. https://2017-2021.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology//index.html
@washingtonpost says "If the U.S. government possesses information to corroborate that statement, it should release it, including declassifying any intelligence." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/05/coronavirus-origins-mystery-china/?arc404=true
The situation right now, I presume, is that the intelligence cannot be declassified because of endangering the source(s).
In that case, please create a curated list of non-gov people who can see this intelligence. There is a lot at stake. https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1350261332277424132
In that case, please create a curated list of non-gov people who can see this intelligence. There is a lot at stake. https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1350261332277424132
OR if this press release from the previous administration was unscientific/in major error, don't just archive it - release an updated press statement carefully saying which parts were incorrect and which parts were correct.
I keep saying this, but the most important point in this press release isn't that WIV was doing secret military research or that its employees had covid-like symptoms in late 2019 - it's whether the pangolin research was occurring pre-covid: https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1350262160107204608
We know that the story we've been told is inaccurate. The WIV filed a patent in 2018 for bat cages but EcoHealth President Daszak said all the bats are released back to their cave site and not killed.
https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1351519374742614037
https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1351519374742614037
If you can at least tell us if smuggled pangolins in China were being sequenced for SARS-CoVs, and if these sequences were shared with labs in other parts of China, such as the WIV, to study novel SARS-CoVs pre-COVID - that would help scientists a lot.
We know that as far back as 2017 there were smuggled pangolins in China that had SARS viruses (not close to SARS2). We don't know if these were detected at the time or only analyzed post-covid. If there was a national program to culture/sequence viruses from pangolins...
... that changes the story entirely.
We already know some labs were switching in SARS spike RBDs into in-house backbones that aren't always published in a timely manner.
We already know some labs were switching in SARS spike RBDs into in-house backbones that aren't always published in a timely manner.
I know that many many people find it incredibly difficult to imagine how a lab leak of a virus could occur. So let's get into the SARS virus leaks in Singapore, Taiwan, and China.
2003, Singapore, SARS leaked from a lab: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2003/09/singapore-man-acquired-sars-government-lab-panel-says
2003, Singapore, SARS leaked from a lab: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2003/09/singapore-man-acquired-sars-government-lab-panel-says
"The patient was conducting research on the West Nile virus in a laboratory that was also conducting research using active SARS coronavirus.. cross-contamination of West Nile virus samples with the SARS virus in the laboratory was the source of infection."
https://www.who.int/csr/don/2003_09_24/en/
https://www.who.int/csr/don/2003_09_24/en/
"Although no SARS work was being done that day, live SARS was definitely in the laboratory 2 days earlier. Stool and sputum samples tested for SARS coronavirus using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction were positive." https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(03)00815-6/fulltext
I just want the public (and scientists) to understand that this work DID NOT require any cell or animal infection experiments.
Somehow, just having another person studying patient samples for SARS a couple of days earlier - resulted in this separate researcher getting SARS!
Somehow, just having another person studying patient samples for SARS a couple of days earlier - resulted in this separate researcher getting SARS!
Scientists have a lot of training, but scientists are also human beings.
We f*** up from time to time. Even machines f*** up, maybe even more regularly than humans.
We f*** up from time to time. Even machines f*** up, maybe even more regularly than humans.
On to Taiwan: "Chan was most likely to have come into contact with the virus on December 6 while cleaning waste liquid that had spilled in a chamber in his biosafety level 4 laboratory"
I'm not that Chan obviously. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(04)00911-9/fulltext
I'm not that Chan obviously. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(04)00911-9/fulltext
