Thread by @Ayjchan

An oldie but a goodie.
"Particularly sensitive is the mine shaft where the closest relative of the COVID-19 virus.. was discovered after an outbreak in 2012.. Wuhan Institute of Virology and the China CDC both studied bat coronaviruses from this shaft."
apnews.com/article/united…

I don't buy that elite scientists in China - Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese CDC director's lab, Beijing Institute of Pathogen Biology - scoured the Mojiang mine repeatedly over years for bat coronaviruses without thinking the miners were likely infected by a 🦇coronavirus.

These top scientists literally sampled the shit out of thousands of bats, rodents and other animals in that mine for years - testing every sample for viruses that might potentially infect humans.

And some people think they did not suspect the miners had been felled by a virus?

The first public coverage of one of these virus sampling expeditions said they were looking for a killer virus.
science.org/content/articl…

I'm not sure how much spare time and energy people think top scientists have that they would organize extensive spelunking trips into abandoned mineshafts to collect thousands of potential pathogen samples for no good reason.

Between the years 2012-2015 alone, the Wuhan Institute of Virology group went to the mine once or twice a year and collected 1,322 samples to test for viruses.

Did they do all this for no good reason considering other more SARS-infested caves in the area?
nature.com/articles/s4158…

I'd like to see this research grant proposal.

"We would like half a million dollars to thoroughly investigate a mine where no SARS-like virus or human viral pathogen of interest has ever been identified or suspected to circulate."

No need to mention that the doctors treating the miners had concluded:

"Analysis of these cases of severe pneumonia by an unknown virus.. may be caused by "SARS-like CoV" or "bat SARS-like coronavirus" from Chinese horseshoe bats."

No need to mention this either:
经钟南山院士会诊、取样后, 武汉病毒研究所测得患者血清抗体阳性, 提示存在病毒感染。
"After consulting Zhong Nanshan, the Wuhan Institute of Virology found that the patient's serum antibody was positive, indicating the existence of viral infection."

No need to mention that Zhong Nanshan, one of China's foremost SARS experts, was the one who instructed investigators to determine the type of bat in the mine and test the patients for SARS antibodies.

The cases of severe pneumonia in the miners were so arresting that the bats in the mine were also investigated for viruses by the Chinese CDC director's lab and described in a 2016 thesis.

４名病例血液标本检测结果显示：４人均携带SARS病毒 IgG抗体，其中出院２人的抗体水平较高， 住 院２人的抗体水平较低（中国科学院武汉病毒学研究所)。

The 4 cases all carried SARS virus IgG antibodies. The test was done by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Please keep this thread in mind if you read about any expert or reporter claiming there was nothing interesting about the Mojiang miners and that an infection by bat virus was not suspected.