Forbes: patients zero worked on gain of function at Wuhan Lab

[0ddl0t]

The report in Public cites “multiple U.S. government officials interviewed as part of a lengthy investigation” saying that Ben Hu, who led WIV’s gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, was among the “patients zero” who contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus in November of 2019.
Sources told Public that Hu, Yu Ping, and Yan Zhu, all from WIV, are thought to be among the first infected with Covid-19.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2023/06/15/covid-19-patients-zero-in-wuhan-identified-boosting-lab-leak-theory/

[feudist]

https://media.tenor.com/aK9Q5vEfofsAAAAC/segundo-sol-novela.gif

[BillSWPA]

Three years ago, anyone who suggested accidental release from a lab was portrayed as an anti-science conspiracy theorist.

[TDA]

Three years ago, anyone who suggested accidental release from a lab was portrayed as an anti-science conspiracy theorist.

Stand by to still be portrayed as an anti-science conspiracy theorist.

[Borderland]

The first know case in the US was in a hospital in Everett, WA. A person who had recently arrived from China was diagnosed, became severely ill, treated? and released at Providence Regional Medical Center. That hospital is about an hour from me. It hit this area pretty hard during the winter 2020-2021.

I don't think The Chinese would have intentionally let that out of a lab so probably poor lab security and some unorthodox tests for who knows what reason. I equate it to bomb makers blowing themselves up and killing a lot of other people in the process. We don't know how many people it killed in China but I bet it was more than a million.


Independent experts, skeptical of Beijing’s official data on COVID deaths, have been forced to calculate their own estimates—which indicate much higher and more disturbing numbers than the government claims. These estimates range from about 1 million to 1.5 million deaths, suggesting that, in absolute terms, China may have suffered more fatalities from COVID in two months than the U.S. did in three years.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/02/china-million-covid-deaths-communist-party/673177/

So yeah, the Russians and Chinese are a threat to themselves and everyone else on the planet.....and I don't think they care.

[TAZ]

I am at a loss for words, I am so shocked. Lets see how long it takes for the science denier shout downs to start.

[breakingtime91]

Same thing with people who say the vaccines are causing injuries and they aren't worth it. But, to each their own. Follow the science and all that

[cheby]

Here is the original report compiled by Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and Alex Gutentag. There are more details here:

https://public.substack.com/p/first-people-sickened-by-covid-19

[okie john]

So it's safe to order the pangolin carpaccio again?


Okie John

[PNWTO]

So yeah, the Russians and Chinese are a threat to themselves and everyone else on the planet.....and I don't think they care.

It’s easy for Westerner’s to forget the value of life, only to have two nations utterly ignore it.

I don’t put the tin foil on often but the idea of Russia, basically a poorly functioning mafia-state, having a full variety of WMDs is terrifying. The leadership “turnover” due to their embarrassment in Ukraine means that any institutional safeguards are probably dissolving.

The move from “indoctrinated professional Russians” to villains from Austin Powers won’t be good for any citizen of the the planet.

[CraigS]

I am certainly no expert on China. But the first I heard that crap about covid originating in a wet market in the same city as that lab I figured it was BS. I thought this. I suspect there are a lot of wet markets all over China but how many labs are there doing that level research. The #s (https://pistol-forum.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=s) make the probability of covid originating in the market quite improbable.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1243020/china-number-of-food-markets/

[Borderland]

I am certainly no expert on China. But the first I heard that crap about covid originating in a wet market in the same city as that lab I figured it was BS. I thought this. I suspect there are a lot of wet markets all over China but how many labs are there doing that level research. The #s (https://pistol-forum.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=s) make the probability of covid originating in the market quite improbable.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1243020/china-number-of-food-markets/

Lots of countries have wet markets and they eat all kinds of wild animals. Things that you and I would never dream of eating. I've seen some of those markets in N. Africa. There are some tribes living in remote areas of the world that hunt for food and eat just about anything they can kill. No viruses killing any of them that I know of.

So that virus came from a lab and the Chinese gov't tried to cover up the fact that they genetically engineered it, for whatever reason. Probably a biological weapon like anthrax.

If I had to bet on that I'd give anyone 2 to 1 odds that it came from a lab if the origin could be proven.

Not relevant to COVID but interesting anyway.

https://youtu.be/rFzVJlYPNSI

[Joe in PNG]

The move from “indoctrinated professional Russians” to villains from Austin Powers won’t be good for any citizen of the the planet.

They've had worse- after all, they were run by Stalin and Beria for ages.

[MountainRaven]

Lots of countries have wet markets and they eat all kinds of wild animals. Things that you and I would never dream of eating. I've seen some of those markets in N. Africa. There are some tribes living in remote areas of the world that hunt for food and eat just about anything they can kill. No viruses killing any of them that I know of.

So that virus came from a lab and the Chinese gov't tried to cover up the fact that they genetically engineered it, for whatever reason. Probably a biological weapon like anthrax.

If I had to bet on that I'd give anyone 2 to 1 odds that it came from a lab if the origin could be proven.

Not relevant to COVID but interesting anyway.

https://youtu.be/rFzVJlYPNSI

Ebola?

[Sensei]

Lots of countries have wet markets and they eat all kinds of wild animals. Things that you and I would never dream of eating. I've seen some of those markets in N. Africa. There are some tribes living in remote areas of the world that hunt for food and eat just about anything they can kill. No viruses killing any of them that I know of.

So that virus came from a lab and the Chinese gov't tried to cover up the fact that they genetically engineered it, for whatever reason. Probably a biological weapon like anthrax.

If I had to bet on that I'd give anyone 2 to 1 odds that it came from a lab if the origin could be proven.

Not relevant to COVID but interesting anyway.

https://youtu.be/rFzVJlYPNSI

The previous coronavirus outbreak in China, SARS-Cov-1, more than a decade ago originated from Chinese wet markets. Then, the 2014 Ebola outbreak most likely originated from bushmeat (probably a child gnawing on a fruit bat) in Africa. While MERS wasn’t linked to a wet market, it is certainly an example of zoonotic transmission from camels. Avian flu outbreaks have also been linked to markets and the “swine flu” H1N1 of 2008 probably came from farms in Mexico.

I don’t doubt that SARS-CoV-2 most likely came from a lab based on what we know now. However, it was certainly reasonable to suspect some sort of zoonotic transmission from 2020-2021 based on how the pandemic was progressing and historical precedent from the previous SARS-CoV-1 outbreak. The real scandalous legacies from this pandemic are our collective inability to 1) adapt our thinking based on evolving evidence and 2) the complicity of the media, politicians, and elements of the scientific community in suppression of ideas and thought that goes against popular policy and political narratives. Those knives cut equally against the political extremes - for every “liberal” loon wearing a mask in a park today I can show your a “conservative” nut claiming that the vaccines didn’t work. For every doctor vaccinating toddlers, I can find an another recommending Ivermectin.

[RoyGBiv]

Three years ago, anyone who suggested accidental release from a lab was portrayed as an anti-science conspiracy theorist.

Given that many critical medical supplies are made in China, the risk of offending China and shutting down supply lies outweighed the truth.

Yes, some bad things do start out in places where strange foods are sold/consumed, but, the day it was revealed that the WIV was nearby the "Wet Market", was the day I ... knew... (sorta) where COVID came from.

[UNK]

Given that many critical medical supplies are made in China, the risk of offending China and shutting down supply lies outweighed the truth.

Yes, some bad things do start out in places where strange foods are sold/consumed, but, the day it was revealed that the WIV was nearby the "Wet Market", was the day I ... knew... (sorta) where COVID came from.

Held hostage by China with the blessings of our politicians.

[Kanye Wyoming]

Given that many critical medical supplies are made in China, the risk of offending China and shutting down supply lies outweighed the truth.

Yes, some bad things do start out in places where strange foods are sold/consumed, but, the day it was revealed that the WIV was nearby the "Wet Market", was the day I ... knew... (sorta) where COVID came from.

Per Jon Stewart, what could possibly explain an outbreak of chocolatey goodness in Hershey, PA?


https://youtube.com/shorts/sNXN0BUM9P0?feature=share

[okie john]

Per Jon Stewart, what could possibly explain an outbreak of chocolatey goodness in Hershey, PA?


https://youtube.com/shorts/sNXN0BUM9P0?feature=share

There's a longer version of that clip where Stephen Colbert works overtime (and fails) to shut down Jon Stewart's line of thinking.

Classic.


Okie John

[camel]

The previous coronavirus outbreak in China, SARS-Cov-1, more than a decade ago originated from Chinese wet markets. Then, the 2014 Ebola outbreak most likely originated from bushmeat (probably a child gnawing on a fruit bat) in Africa. While MERS wasn’t linked to a wet market, it is certainly an example of zoonotic transmission from camels. Avian flu outbreaks have also been linked to markets and the “swine flu” H1N1 of 2008 probably came from farms in Mexico.

I don’t doubt that SARS-CoV-2 most likely came from a lab based on what we know now. However, it was certainly reasonable to suspect some sort of zoonotic transmission from 2020-2021 based on how the pandemic was progressing and historical precedent from the previous SARS-CoV-1 outbreak. The real scandalous legacies from this pandemic are our collective inability to 1) adapt our thinking based on evolving evidence and 2) the complicity of the media, politicians, and elements of the scientific community in suppression of ideas and thought that goes against popular policy and political narratives. Those knives cut equally against the political extremes - for every “liberal” loon wearing a mask in a park today I can show your a “conservative” nut claiming that the vaccines didn’t work. For every doctor vaccinating toddlers, I can find an another recommending Ivermectin.

The collective inability to process information from what people know. To what they see and are feed. can and certainly has been a problem. I can pull a study out of my ass and make numbers. Ooda. While alive in in certain aspects. Has gone out the window with the bath water. People just going to people.

[CraigS]

I also remember hearing that china shut down travel within the country but let travel to other counties go on as normal. Weaponize an accidental wet market outbreak? Maybe. Weaponize a lab leak since they don't want to admit it? Much more probable to me. But either way, that tells us all we need to know about what china thinks of the rest of the world. Allowing a chinese spy balloon to fly across the US because there is not a single empty space along it's path, tells us all we need to know about our president.

[camel]

Could be they just fucked up on something. And then really no one knew what it could do.