US Launches Full Scale Probe of Whether Virus Was Created in a Lab (1 Viewer)

[Kal El]

Disagree. If it were from a lab, it would be imperative that that were known, so measures could be taken to ensure no repeat pathogens escape. Problem is, there is only credible evidence thus far to suggest the virus did not escape from a lab. Trump and his admin are masters at distraction and ascribing blame. This is more to keep the possibility that it escaped alive in people’s minds so they don’t point the finger at the horrendous response.

The probe that needs to happen is comparing US data of the profession and deaths to other countries, comparing the response, and attributing the excessive human and economic damage where it belongs.

I understand all of this, however, in the specific case of Covid-19, its origin does not help us stop it. That said, if this "probe" halts other, possibly more dangerous pathogens, I won't complain. I just feel as though this is going to be touted as a distraction, to our own detriment.

 

[Tolstoy]

FULL.SCALE.

 

[Amused to Death]

Good news @TripItUp

“The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to U.S. policymakers and those responding to the COVID-19 virus, which originated in China. The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” a statement from the office of acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said.

 

[TripItUp]

Good news @TripItUp

“The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to U.S. policymakers and those responding to the COVID-19 virus, which originated in China. The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” a statement from the office of acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said.

good news indeed

 

[Amused to Death]

good news indeed

There was never any evidence that such an investigation was launched, but great to hear the case is closed on the matter. Unless evidence emerges.

 

[kface]

Much like every other investigate Trump undertakes to shift blame from himself it turns out this was a waste of money

 

[Tolstoy]

sorry if already posted https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2020/03/26/genomic-research-points-to-natural-origin-of-covid-19/

 

[[scooter]]

Much like every other investigate Trump undertakes to shift blame from himself it turns out this was a waste of money

To be fair to Trump, I don't think the probe lasted long enough to waste much money.

edit: but there's still time for more probing!

 

[dkp993]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-he-has-evidence-coronavirus-came-from-a-chinese-lab-but-he-cant-reveal-it-232946854.html
 

Classic Trump playbook.  “I know but can’t tell you”.  Next on the hit list “lots of people are saying” and then our all time favorite golden oldie “in 2 weeks”.  

He’s like top 40 radio station, just plays the same songs over and over again.  

I posted this elsewhere but probably fits better here....

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Had no idea his ODNI was involved in IC's finding that the lab was not the source of the virus.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Five Eyes network contradicts theory Covid-19 leaked from lab

No current evidence to suggest coronavirus leaked from Wuhan research lab, agencies say

There is no current evidence to suggest that coronavirus leaked from a Chinese research laboratory, intelligence sources have told the Guardian, contradicting recent White House claims that there is growing proof this is how the pandemic began.

...

On Sunday Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said: “I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.”

No evidence was offered by Pompeo to back up his assertion but information has been circulating over the last month in the UK, US and Australia aimed at raising questions about the high security Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has long specialised in researching coronaviruses in horseshoe bats.

Stories have suggested that workers in the lab may not have always used full protective equipment, and that in one instance a bat urinated on a researcher who did not subsequently become ill.

But there is nothing to indicate a leak from the lab could have caused the pandemic, sources say.

..American scientists who have worked with the Wuhan Institute add its safety standards are comparable to Western equivalents – and the prevailing theory is that the virus was passed onto humans via one of the country’s live animal markets.

...

Last week, the New York Times reported that White House officials, led by deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, a former China reporter with the Wall Street Journal, pressed the US agencies to gather information that could support any lab theory.

A report in the Washington Post two weeks later highlighted a leak of US diplomatic cables from 2018, claiming that a site visit showed the WIV had insufficient appropriately trained technicians for the high security work.

The lab itself says it is distressed by talk of leaks. Scientific American re-edited an interview with the virologist Shi Zhengli last week to address “the tenuous suggestion” of the lab theory, and noted the “genetic sequence” of Sars-CoV-2, the scholarly term for coronavirus, “does not match any her lab had previously studied”.

Charles Parton, a former foreign office official and senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said: “People pushing these sort of lines are doing everybody a disservice.

“It will inevitably prompt a Chinese reaction at a time when there is a need for a proper scientific understanding of its causes, and, in the longer term, to work together to stop pandemics happening again.’’

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I watched the video.  What were the recommendations to China?  What could we have done? 

I didn't realize this had been reported previous to this discussion.

If you're still interested:

Two years before the novel coronavirus pandemic upended the world, U.S. Embassy officials visited a Chinese research facility in the city of Wuhan several times and sent two official warnings back to Washington about inadequate safety at the lab, which was conducting risky studies on coronaviruses from bats. The cables have fueled discussions inside the U.S. government about whether this or another Wuhan lab was the source of the virus — even though conclusive proof has yet to emerge.

In January 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing took the unusual step of repeatedly sending U.S. science diplomats to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which had in 2015 become China’s first laboratory to achieve the highest level of international bioresearch safety (known as BSL-4). WIV issued a news release in English about the last of these visits, which occurred on March 27, 2018. The U.S. delegation was led by Jamison Fouss, the consul general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the embassy’s counselor of environment, science, technology and health. ...

What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and proposed more attention and help. The first cable, which I obtained, also warns that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.

“During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory,” states the Jan. 19, 2018, cable, which was drafted by two officials from the embassy’s environment, science and health sections who met with the WIV scientists.

...

The Chinese researchers at WIV were receiving assistance from the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and other U.S. organizations, but the Chinese requested additional help. The cables argued that the United States should give the Wuhan lab further support, mainly because its research on bat coronaviruses was important but also dangerous.

As the cable noted, the U.S. visitors met with Shi Zhengli, the head of the research project, who had been publishing studies related to bat coronaviruses for many years. In November 2017, just before the U.S. officials’ visit, Shi’s team had published research showing that horseshoe bats they had collected from a cave in Yunnan province were very likely from the same bat population that spawned the SARS coronavirus in 2003.

“Most importantly,” the cable states, “the researchers also showed that various SARS-like coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus. This finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans to cause SARS-like diseases. From a public health perspective, this makes the continued surveillance of SARS-like coronaviruses in bats and study of the animal-human interface critical to future emerging coronavirus outbreak prediction and prevention.”

...Sources familiar with the cables said they were meant to sound an alarm about the grave safety concerns at the WIV lab, especially regarding its work with bat coronaviruses. The embassy officials were calling for more U.S. attention to this lab and more support for it, to help it fix its problems.

...No extra assistance to the labs was provided by the U.S. government in response to these cables.  ...

- This was the Trump administration's own State Department that suggested the Trump administration provide greater support to ensure better protection ant training. That assistance was never provided.

 

[knowledge dropper]

I didn't realize this had been reported previous to this discussion.

If you're still interested:

- This was the Trump administration's own State Department that suggested the Trump administration provide greater support to ensure better protection ant training. That assistance was never provided.

Thanks.  How do we know they didn’t offer and were rebuffed by China?

 

[[scooter]]

I didn't realize this had been reported previous to this discussion.

If you're still interested:

- This was the Trump administration's own State Department that suggested the Trump administration provide greater support to ensure better protection ant training. That assistance was never provided.

Thanks.  How do we know they didn’t offer and were rebuffed by China?

Good question. We don't have an answer because the Trump administration has refused to turn over the relevant documents.

 

[BladeRunner]

Good question. We don't have an answer because the Trump administration has refused to turn over the relevant documents.

Maybe its in the same file cabinet with the fast and furious documents and the documents on the Obama administration weaponizing the IRS to go after conservatives. 

 

[[scooter]]

Good question. We don't have an answer because the Trump administration has refused to turn over the relevant documents.

Maybe its in the same file cabinet with the fast and furious documents and the documents on the Obama administration weaponizing the IRS to go after conservatives. 

Have you noticed that in 2 1/2 years, Trump never bothered to look for all those Fast & Furious or IRS or Benghazi documents? Or the Kenya birth certificate?

At any rate, it's interesting to see the tone of the latest distraction change from BLAME THE LAB! to BUT OBAMA!

 

[Tolstoy]

damn that week went by fast

 

[sho nuff]

Maybe its in the same file cabinet with the fast and furious documents and the documents on the Obama administration weaponizing the IRS to go after conservatives. 

Actual IG investigation of IRS scandal.

https://oversight.house.gov/investigations/investigation-of-irs

Care to retract your statememt?

 

[Tolstoy]

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/496241-joint-chiefs-of-staff-chairman-says-evidence-suggests-coronavirus-was-not