Covid-19 miscellany

[Loren Pechtel]

Won't be fooled again;

Dr. Anthony Fauci commissioned a February 2020 paper to disprove the possibility that COVID originated in a lab — before publicizing the study at a White House news conference weeks later. Newly-released emails uncovered by House Republicans probing the COVID-19 pandemic show the former head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases both commissioned and had final approval on a scientific paper which claimed it was 'improbable' that the virus leaked out of a lab in Wuhan, China. Just a few weeks later, he stood next to then-President Donald Trump at a press conference and cited that very paper as evidence that the idea of a lab leak was implausible - without admitting he commissioned it. Many media outlets then started to dismiss the idea, only to later suggest the lab leak theory is possible as new evidence arose supporting the claim. And in January, the Energy Department and the FBI both concluded that the virus did likely spread from a lab leak in Wuhan. The CIA is yet to declare a definitive position. The bombshell emails released by House Republicans on Sunday shows that Fauci commissioned and edited a paper entitled The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2 before he cited it as evidence that COVID did not originate from a lab in Wuhan. It was written just four days after Fauci, and his NIH boss Francis Collins, held a call with the authors to discuss reports that COVID may have been leaked from a genetic testing lab in Wuhan and 'may have been intentionally genetically manipulated.' And in the emails, Dr. Kristian Andersen admits that Fauci 'prompted' him to write the paper with the goal of 'disproving' the lab leak theory.

Daily Mail

It still doesn't prove that the virus came from a lab but it does say a lot about Fauci being the dishonest, flip flopping toady that he is.

Note that there are two separate issues here!

1) Is the virus the result of genetic engineering? Despite QOP claims to the contrary there's no reason to think so. All the "proof" of genetic tampering doesn't hold up and it would be a rather stupid thing for them to have been doing. While we have seen a lot of stupidity from China over this almost all of it appears to be the usual problem of too-strict control: Underlings trying to accomplish things where they have been overtaken by events but their orders haven't been updated. Beijing doesn't make many stupid moves.

2) Could the virus be natural, passed by way of an animal at the virology lab? This inherently can never be proven nor disproven. While the wet market handled far more animals the lab probably handled ones from more remote locations.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Which is it? China unleashed genetically manipulated disease on the world... or not much worse than the flu?

Those are mutually exclusive. I just don't get this passion to protect Xi and the Chi-Coms. That it leaked from a lab which was doing gain-of-function testing on similar viruses is entirely plausible.

But there's no reason to think it happened.

Whatever the original, this virus has crossed to humans multiple times in the past.

SARS was stopped because people showed symptoms before being contagious.

MERS pops up occasionally but it's R0 is below 1. (Should it ever mutate into a more contagious form, though....)

We have the miners in 2012, not proven to be related but likely so. 50% mortality but an R0 of zero.

We have likely other jumps, just with low R0s.

Why do we think this one has to be from genetic engineering? The others clearly are not. The only reason this one is different is that it's contagious before showing symptoms. While someone sufficiently evil could engineer such a virus China isn't so stupid as to do so--they perfectly well know that controlling an airborne virus isn't possible.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Oh but yes people ARE defending them or at least they were. Do you not remember how quickly so many of the so called experts fell over themselves to sign a letter condemning the "conspiracy theory" that covid originated in a lab?

Whether covid originated in a lab or not we may never know for sure but to dismiss it as a possibility is rather foolish.

I think many are open to the possibility, but a lot of the lab leak chatter was also linked into bio-weapon talk, which made it hard to have rational discussions.

In defense or your and Oleg's argument though, there is a willingness by the WHO to be "very diplomatic" with the Chinese govt. The WHO wants continued access to Chinese labs and does not want to lose it.

This. Worker infected by an animal they were handling? Certainly possible, certainly can't be proven or disproven. Mistake with a bioweapon? Out of the question. Leak of something they had engineered for research purposes? Probably not but once again inherently impossible to prove one way or the other.

Animals which simply have been brought in do not normally get the high level precautions, any level 4 lab is equally vulnerable to such incidents. Labs take precautions with infectious materials, including infected animals. They don't take careful precautions with incoming supplies.

 

[ZiprHead]

Man allegedly got up to 90 COVID vaccine shots so he could sell the vaccination cards

The man in the eastern German city of Magdeburg is accused of getting the injections so he could sell the vaccine cards that went with them. No word on impact on his health.

www.cbsnews.com

I guess if vaccines kill this guy would be dead as fried chicken. (Channeling my inner Samual Jackson.)

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

He must be a walking 5G modem.

 

[ZiprHead]

He must be a walking 5G modem.

It must be hell for him to walk through the key section of the hardware store.

 

[Ruth Harris]

He must be a walking 5G modem.

It must be hell for him to walk through the key section of the hardware store.

Or the nails and staples section!

Ruth

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Maybe he's the reason for the chip shortage.

 

[ZiprHead]

An Ivermectin Influencer Died. Now His Followers Are Worried About Their Own ‘Severe’ Symptoms.

Danny Lemoi took a daily dose of veterinary-grade ivermectin and told his thousands of followers to give the drug to children. He died of a common side effect of the medication.

www.vice.com

Just before 7 am on March 3, Danny Lemoi posted an update in his hugely popular pro-ivermectin Telegram group, Dirt Road Discussions: “HAPPY FRIDAY ALL YOU POISONOUS HORSE PASTE EATING SURVIVORS !!!”
Hours later, Lemoi was dead.
For the last decade, Lemoi had taken a daily dose of veterinary ivermectin, a dewormer designed to be used on large animals like horses and cows. In 2021, as ivermectin became a popular alternative COVID-19 treatment among anti-vaxxers, he launched what became one of the largest Telegram channels dedicated to promoting the use of it, including instructions on how to administer ivermectin to children.

But despite Lemoi’s death, the administrators of his channel are pushing his misinformation—even as his followers share their own worrying possible side effects from taking ivermectin and some question the safety of the drug.
Lemoi, a heavy equipment operator who lived in Foster, Rhode Island, “passed away unexpectedly” on March 3, according to an online obituary post by his family last week. He was survived by his parents and brother. The obituary gave no details about the cause of his death.
In the Telegram channel, administrators broke the news of his death to his followers. “Though it was obvious that Danny had the biggest heart, it was unbeknownst to him that his heart was quite literally overworking and overgrowing beyond its capacity, nearly doubled in size from what it should have been,” the admins wrote, adding: “We understand that this is going to raise questions for those who were following him.”

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Cochrane even points out their meta-study is being misinterpreted!

Statement on 'Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses' review

www.cochrane.org

 

[Loren Pechtel]

And yet another example of the death cult trying to run up the death toll:

Exposure to Air Pollution Linked to Risk of Long COVID in Young Adults

Continued efforts to reduce ambient air pollution levels are needed, researchers say

www.medpagetoday.com

Dirty air increases the chance of long Covid--and they want to get rid of air pollution regulations.

 

[TSwizzle]

It is roughly three years to the day that the insufferable prick Gavin Newsom started his authoritarian state of emergency Covid response. Two weeks to flatten the curve we were told. Schools and universities were shuttered and young people who were never ever in any danger from this virus were robbed of their graduations, education and opportunities to excel in sports.

Unforgivable and I don’t think the insufferable prick has apologized.

NEVER AGAIN.

 

[aupmanyav]

India is seeing an upward trend in Covid. Nothing serious at the moment, Active cases 3,903 at the latest count. It had gone below 2,000 some days ago.

 

[ZiprHead]

It is roughly three years to the day that the insufferable prick Gavin Newsom started his authoritarian state of emergency Covid response. Two weeks to flatten the curve we were told. Schools and universities were shuttered and young people who were never ever in any danger from this virus were robbed of their graduations, education and opportunities to excel in sports.

Unforgivable and I don’t think the insufferable prick has apologized.

NEVER AGAIN.

Aww, poor Swizzle. What has the guy living in your head done to you now.

 

[thebeave]

It is roughly three years to the day that the insufferable prick Gavin Newsom started his authoritarian state of emergency Covid response. Two weeks to flatten the curve we were told. Schools and universities were shuttered and young people who were never ever in any danger from this virus were robbed of their graduations, education and opportunities to excel in sports.

Unforgivable and I don’t think the insufferable prick has apologized.

NEVER AGAIN.

Aww, poor Swizzle. What has the guy living in your head done to you now.

We can call his problem "NDS" for Newsome Derangement Syndrome, an analogy to Trump Derangement Syndrome (which seems to have affected over 90% of people on this forum) with the primary difference being Newsome is still in office and in charge, while Trump has been out of office for over two years.

 

[TSwizzle]

Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say. The discovery does not prove that raccoon dogs or other animals infected with Covid triggered the pandemic, but scientists presenting the work to an expert group at the World Health Organization on Tuesday believe it makes that more likely.
Dr Jonathan Stoye, a virologist and senior group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said: “The finding of Sars-CoV-2 infected racoon dogs strengthens the plausibility that coronavirus-infected farmed animals were an important link in the series of events leading to the Covid-19 pandemic. “However, it does not disprove lab-leak theories: that would require the demonstration that such animals were infected prior to their arrival and display at the Huanan seafood market, something that may never be possible.” Also on Friday, the WHO said the Covid-19 pandemic could settle down this year, posing a risk similar to that of flu. “I think we’re coming to that point where we can look at Covid-19 in the same way we look at seasonal influenza: a threat to health, a virus that will continue to kill, but a virus that is not disrupting our society,” Michael Ryan, the WHO emergencies director, said, adding: “I believe that that will come … this year.”

Teh Gruaniad

Source of covid or not, these wet markets need to be shut down. and possibly the chinese labs.

 

[Oleg]

Source of covid or not, these wet markets need to be shut down. and possibly the chinese labs.

The lab-leak theory is raycist. It ackchyually was caused by disgusting Chinese eating habits.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Source of covid or not, these wet markets need to be shut down. and possibly the chinese labs.

The lab-leak theory is raycist. It ackchyually was caused by disgusting Chinese eating habits.

Wet markets are an inevitable result of the lack of refrigeration--and it takes quite a while for things to change once refrigeration is introduced. It also comes down to how much one trusts the system--it takes much less trust to buy a live animal than to buy a piece of a dead one. I'm thinking back to several years ago, Shanghai. We are walking along, there's a guy there with a big net bag of live frogs. My wife stops, talks to him for a bit and leaves with a bag of frogs sans heads that within the hour were in the pot. A completely normal transaction to her (she's Shanghai-born and speaks both Shanghainese and Mandarin at native fluency)--the fact that the frogs were hopping around (she would not have accepted one that wasn't) says more about quality than getting them from a big store would. Guaranteed fresh, no question about cold chain failures, unlikely to be ill, not contaminated by flies.

Also, it's only a difference of degree, not of kind. The US has wet markets--plenty of seafood is sold that way. There's a place in town that sells live chickens, also.

 

[JohnG]

Source of covid or not, these wet markets need to be shut down. and possibly the chinese labs.

The lab-leak theory is raycist. It ackchyually was caused by disgusting Chinese eating habits.

Wet markets are an inevitable result of the lack of refrigeration--and it takes quite a while for things to change once refrigeration is introduced. It also comes down to how much one trusts the system--it takes much less trust to buy a live animal than to buy a piece of a dead one. I'm thinking back to several years ago, Shanghai. We are walking along, there's a guy there with a big net bag of live frogs. My wife stops, talks to him for a bit and leaves with a bag of frogs sans heads that within the hour were in the pot. A completely normal transaction to her (she's Shanghai-born and speaks both Shanghainese and Mandarin at native fluency)--the fact that the frogs were hopping around (she would not have accepted one that wasn't) says more about quality than getting them from a big store would. Guaranteed fresh, no question about cold chain failures, unlikely to be ill, not contaminated by flies.

Also, it's only a difference of degree, not of kind. The US has wet markets--plenty of seafood is sold that way. There's a place in town that sells live chickens, also.

That's interesting. I guess when there isn't regulation, something else takes its place. For example, Jewish meat is prepared by a Rabbi (Kosher) to "regulate" food safety. Cultures sort it out in distinct ways.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Source of covid or not, these wet markets need to be shut down. and possibly the chinese labs.

The lab-leak theory is raycist. It ackchyually was caused by disgusting Chinese eating habits.

Wet markets are an inevitable result of the lack of refrigeration--and it takes quite a while for things to change once refrigeration is introduced. It also comes down to how much one trusts the system--it takes much less trust to buy a live animal than to buy a piece of a dead one. I'm thinking back to several years ago, Shanghai. We are walking along, there's a guy there with a big net bag of live frogs. My wife stops, talks to him for a bit and leaves with a bag of frogs sans heads that within the hour were in the pot. A completely normal transaction to her (she's Shanghai-born and speaks both Shanghainese and Mandarin at native fluency)--the fact that the frogs were hopping around (she would not have accepted one that wasn't) says more about quality than getting them from a big store would. Guaranteed fresh, no question about cold chain failures, unlikely to be ill, not contaminated by flies.

Also, it's only a difference of degree, not of kind. The US has wet markets--plenty of seafood is sold that way. There's a place in town that sells live chickens, also.

That's interesting. I guess when there isn't regulation, something else takes its place. For example, Jewish meat is prepared by a Rabbi (Kosher) to "regulate" food safety. Cultures sort it out in distinct ways.

I think you're looking at it backwards--it's regulation that steps in to take the place of the old ways. We have enough of an issue with it here (every so often some investigative reporter shows up a store re-dating old meat, I've seen plenty of conduct that's questionable from a cold-chain perspective). China is still in transition in this regard, I don't blame people for going for the way that lets them actually evaluate rather than trust a regulator who might be bribed to look the other way. In recent years (and we haven't been back since the Great Yuck. They just reinstated our visas this week but we aren't going to visit yet) I haven't seen any roadside sellers in Shanghai, but I have seen produce sellers in nearby cities. The produce sellers have always been a lot more common than the animal sellers.