Thread by @Ayjchan

“If the lab worker is confirmed to have been infected at her workplace, then this will add credibility to the lab leak theory” - Yanzhong Huang, a Chinese public health expert at the Washington-based think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations.
taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4374287

Taiwan continues to do an outstanding job identifying ways in which SARS-CoV-2 could've infected a scientist at one of their BSL3 labs and went undetected for weeks.

taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4374289

Important to note that *if* SARS-CoV-2 had been experimented with in a lab before it emerged in Wuhan in 2019, it would not have been as easy to detect lab-acquired infections or community spread.

The scientists would've also been very surprised to see that a virus had escaped.

Furthermore, we know much of the live SARS-like virus work in Wuhan had been conducted at an even lower BSL2 level - not appropriate for airborne viruses! - where illnesses and small accidents are not necessarily recorded.

https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1426658655760490496

I'm pressing on this point because some US intelligence agencies believe that SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be natural in origin partly because the Chinese authorities were surprised by the 2019 Wuhan outbreak.

The Taiwan authorities were also surprised by the latest lab escape.

It's not like if a lab escape happened, higher-ups know and aren't surprised.

I bet even the infected scientist and her colleagues were surprised.

Experts in Taiwan are still investigating now to figure out exactly how the scientist was exposed to the virus in the lab.

Human error and human nature are at play in any laboratory, regardless of biosafety level.

We have to acknowledge these shortcomings and relocate risky pathogen research to less densely populated areas + enforce strict reporting & quarantine measures.
taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4374289

"Case 16,816 was bitten for the second time in November, but she decided not to report it to her supervisors since the first incident did not receive the response she had expected."

This situation is so common in research.

There are so many of these examples where students, postdocs or technicians are told not to make a big deal out of accidents or misconduct. No measures taken to fix the error or prevent future incidents.

Out of 1000s of cases of misconduct, barely any ever see the light of day.

The thing that surprises me the most about the lab leak of SARS-CoV-2 in Taiwan is how transparent the investigators have been since the case was diagnosed.

Many other countries might not even have reported or investigated. They might've tried to blame it on other countries.

Clearly mistakes were made, but I think the scientist in her 20s should not be penalized considering that, reportedly, she was told it was NBD when she reported the first mouse biosafety incident. If true, her report wasn't taken seriously and she got bit a 2nd time.

Steps should be taken to incentivize young people to report accidents and misconduct.

If you penalize people who honestly report accidents and misconduct (and were potentially retaliated against by supervisors for reporting these issues), who will blow the whistle in future?