Dr. Fauci throws cold water on conspiracy theory Covid-19 came from Chinese lab | Hacker News Reader

Dr. Fauci throws cold water on conspiracy theory Covid-19 came from Chinese lab

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3 pointsMilnerRoute15 comments

I really hate how the media keeps conflating the theories that the virus was engineered and that the virus escaped from a lab. Even the title of this article has been editorialized to conflate the two.

I mostly trust what people have said about the virus lacking signs of being engineered or otherwise modified.

That the virus escaped from a lab is totally plausible and has precedent. It is a shame it gets lumped in with the other theory. SARS escaped Chinese research labs twice and there are many other instances worldwide of pathogens escaping research labs.

Newsweek has specifically addressed just the "escaped from a lab" theory.

'Claim That Covid-19 Came From Lab In China Completely Unfounded Scientists Say'

https://www.newsweek.com/claim-that-coronavirus-came-lab-chi...

Fundamentally, you are not going to find any direct evidence that the virus came from a lab unless the virus has signs of being engineered (which seems to not be the case).

Only in the last week or so major news organizations have started covering the theory of lab escape of an unmodified pathogen. You can find tons or articles arguing either way.

Given the fact that almost every city in China is going to have wet markets, but Wuhan is one of the few (only?) cities to have labs researching these types of viruses it would be irresponsible to not consider the possibility. Given that the CCP is going to do the utmost to cover up any negative stories you are never going to find any smoking gun level evidence.

Did you read the Newsweek article?

"The SARS-CoV-2 virus has some key differences in specific genes relative to previously identified coronaviruses — the ones a laboratory would be working with," said Adam Lauring, an associate professor at the University of Michigan Medical School and an expert in the evolution of viruses.

Again, there are many articles that argue either side of this. You can pick and choose quotes however you like.

That being said, you don't believe that a lab that studies novel coronaviruses could be studying a novel coronavirus? There is a history of pathogens escaping labs and there are many more wet markets in other cities in China than labs doing related research. As the simplest approximation just try applying bayes rule.

Additionally, the CCP is an authoritarian regime with a strong motive to cover things up. A refusal to even consider the possibility of a lab escape is willful ignorance.

It's not a "conspiracy theory", it's a theory; and a very possible one.

Lets look at the facts:

1. The virus came from horseshoe bats, and this kind of bat was not sold at the Wuhan market.

2. The lab was working on Corona viruses.

Maybe the virus was not bio-engineered, but there is a very very very real possibility it came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Then why was the initial outbreak centered around the wet market, not the research lab? A giant coincidence?

Its possible one person could have contracted the virus, then traveled to the wet-market, which is about 20 miles away, then spent some time there shopping there and passed it on to others.

Then again, it could have come from the wet market and it could be a coincidence.

I don't want to make this into a left-wing vs right-wing thing.

Perhaps you could make it a ‘listen to the professional epidemiologist’ thing?

No. There is no proof that it came from the wet market either. There are wet markets all over China, how come this doesn't happen all the time?

Shit happens, somebody doesn't follow protocol and a virus escapes, how unbelievable does that sound?

For the record, Dr. Fauci is not an epidemiologist, he's just a basic bitch Dr.

I've banned this account until we get some indication that you want to use HN as intended. That would include not using a trollish username. You're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com if you don't want to be banned.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

1. The theory has always been that it jumped from bats to another animal -- like the kind sold at the market.

2. "It does not appear that the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention — the one close to the market — had published any research on the topic prior to the pandemic."

https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/04/01/covid-19-bioweapon/

You're probably thinking of the Biosafety 4 lab that was seven miles away from the Wuhan Market.

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