Share this page!

Alina Chan Profile picture
Twitter logo
Jun 11 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Just an FYI for those asking what or where is the evidence for a plausible lab #OriginOfCovid

The evidence for a lab origin is comparable to that for a market origin of the virus. Both pathways are plausible and deserving of a credible investigation.
Many of the experts claiming that there is no evidence for a lab #OriginOfCovid seem unaware that by their own standards there is also no evidence for a market origin of the virus.
Whether it is location, activities known to be occurring in Wuhan, genetic & epidemiological data - these are all consistent with natural & lab #OriginOfCovid scenarios.

Different experts have different likelihood assessments but all should be able to agree both are plausible.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Alina Chan

Alina Chan Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Ayjchan

Alina Chan Profile picture
Jun 12
We don't know when the COVID-19 outbreak began in Wuhan.

According to 1 group of virologists, the first cases were most likely at the end of Nov & early Dec 2019. But this contrasts with reports from experts who had heard of the outbreak by mid-Dec 2019.
zenodo.org/record/6291628… Image
If the COVID-19 virus had jumped from an animal to a human person in late Nov 2019, causing the pandemic, that would mean the case had to develop symptoms, spread to cause detected outbreak, news travelled outside of the province & country in 2-3 weeks.
Even the @nytimes @carlzimmer @benjmueller which endorsed the Pekar et al. preprint opted to report their earliest estimate (vaguely, Nov). Rather than say these scientists believed the animal-to-human transmissions only occurred late Nov-mid Dec 2019.
nytimes.com/interactive/20… Image
Read 16 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Jun 6
Another study of wild animals in rural area of Wuhan captured in Jan 2020 for animal markets, which had in the past included the Huanan seafood market.

Zero SARS-CoV-2 or close relatives found.

Again no SARSrCoV that can use the ACE2 receptor were found from bats in the region.
One year on, still no ****s given by @washingtonpost reporter @AaronBlake on spreading misinformation about Chinese culture in Wuhan.
@washingtonpost @AaronBlake The data, even from pre-pandemic studies, is literally telling us that despite searching extensively scientists cannot find SARS-CoV-2 or close relatives in Central China.

Bats were not a delicacy in Wuhan. Bats were not sold at the Huanan seafood market.
nature.com/articles/s4159…
Read 8 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Jun 3
To the virologists complaining about the qualifications of scientists who spent the last 2.5 years fighting the narrative that a lab #OriginOfCovid is a conspiracy theory...

Which one of your card-carrying peers intended to tell the world a lab origin is plausible and when?
Because we're seeing lots and lots of FOIA'ed emails among card-carrying virologists worrying about a lab #OriginOfCovid but zero sign of any one of them stepping up to tell the public.
Read 8 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Jun 2
I'm not surprised scientists think a natural #OriginOfCovid is plausible. I'm one of them.

I'm surprised by the certainty some scientists profess to have while turning on & viciously degrading their peers who suggest a lab origin.

Twitter hath no fury like a virologist scorned.
I expect that as the number of experts (and reporters) who insist that a natural #OriginOfCovid is (almost) certain dwindles, these scientist-on-scientist attacks with name-calling and smears will get increasingly vicious.
If experts who are (almost) certain of a natural #OriginOfCovid refuse to come to scientific exchanges on the topic being held in a neutral space, that is 💯 on them.

If you're certain of your expertise, it shouldn't worry you that "epistemic trespassers" are allowed to speak.
Read 5 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
Jun 1
One recurring argument I hear from virologists trying to debunk lab #OriginOfCovid is that their colleagues are such incurable gossips that they could not possibly hold back information on novel viruses discovered and cutting edge experiments being conducted...
... and that this applies even to labs engaged in classified research where scientists and students have to regularly sign confidentiality pledges and sometimes seal their research reports for 20 years. washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pac…
If this Global Virology Gossip Network is so effective, can anyone produce the virus database at the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Or tell us what experiments were done after they co-submitted a proposal to insert novel cleavage sites into undefined SARS-like viruses?
Read 7 tweets
Alina Chan Profile picture
May 22
Suggestion for scientists and science communicators/journalists:

When the available evidence to support/rule out a particular hypothesis is little to none, let's stop saying "there is no evidence for X" and instead say "we are still gathering evidence to know whether X is true".
Watching #InTheSameBreath @HBO documentary drove home the damage that can be caused by experts making statements like there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission or masks protecting against Covid etc.

Could have been avoided if experts said we're still looking into this.
Saying that there is "no evidence" for something implies that a search for evidence has been conducted and turned up nothing.

In many cases, investigators are still in the process of searching for evidence. A premature assertion of "no evidence" would mislead the public.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(