To the scientists still comparing the lab #OriginOfCovid hypothesis to all sorts of conspiracy theories, you need to read these private emails among top virologists freaking out about a plausible lab leak and even a genetically engineered origin of Covid-19.
“Unnoticed by most, however, was a key difference that significantly shifted the risk calculation. The Chinese work was carried out at biosafety level 2..
If a lab #OriginOfCovid is that much of a conspiracy theory, why would the director of a US top biosafety lab email his Wuhan counterpart and collaborator asking them to investigate a lab leak origin of the virus?
Today we know that the virus hunting program based in Wuhan was a lot more expansive than previously thought, they had research pipelines that could've led to the emergence of Covid-19, and the work was done at biosafety levels that cannot contain SARS-CoV-2.
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After 2 years, @WHO, US intelligence & more top experts+virologists acknowledge that a lab #OriginOfCovid is plausible and deserving of an investigation.
Yet, the attacks by scientists & pundits on those who called for an objective investigation of a lab origin has gotten worse.
@WHO I'm not expecting an apology or for people to say I was right in May 2020. My expectations of human behavior are not that idealistic.
Here is our statement in May 2020, for reference, that drew me into this unpredictable and dangerous public debate. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
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…
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…
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.
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.
@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…
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.
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.