@mike said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1302473) said:
@tiger5150 said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1302460) said:
@earl said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1302449) said:
@harvey said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1302448) said:
@earl said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1301993) said:
@harvey said in [Coronavirus Outbreak](/post/1301991) said:
Almost reads like something that could have been published in a state sanctioned Chinese newspaper.
I'm not buying that line. I don't think the WHO narrative is a China narrative. I don't think it was ever likely the virus came from a lab. We know that viruses can leak from labs but it was unlikely that was the case this time. I think we already knew it wasn't a man made virus.
I still think labs studying viruses and wet markets or any trade in exotic animals is dangerous.
In stating that viruses do migrate from animals to humans regularly. We've had many pandemics/epidemics in the past that have occurred in this fashion. That is why this is by far the most likely explanation.
It is also hard to pin point exactly where the virus started. The same thing happened in the Spanish Flu outbreak. It probably started in America but I don't think the exact site was ever proven.
It is not the original host (animal) that I have an issue with, it is the suggestion that the virus existed elsewhere in the world and was imported into China via frozen food.
China are always going to say stupid things. I agree that it is highly unlikely it was imported into China.
I think the exotic animal trade is way too risky to continue and this practice is common in China. I also don't like creating these viruses in labs. There have been outbreaks from labs.
I also think at the moment based on the ***evidence*** and this has nothing at all to do with China that the virus like many other viruses in the past crossed over from animals into humans. I think it's highly likely the virus started in China via crossing over from animals and China tried to keep it quiet.
I'm just someone who goes off the predominant ***evidence***. It's like the vaccine discussions above. I will trust the reputable source rather than some edge case. If the edge case has ***evidence*** backing it up then cool but if not then I'll stick to what the ***evidence*** shows.
Genuinely not having a crack at you Earl, but you state evidence a lot in your posts. Could you post the evidence that shows that this virus passed from an animal to a human? Im not aware of any and would genuinely be interested in seeing it.
To clarify what I am talking about, we know for sure that SARS COV 1 came directly from bats to humans. The reason that we know this for sure is because Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute of Virology actually tracked down the bats and found that exact virus in them and tested that it transferred to humans. There has not been an animal found in Wuhan or elsewhere with SAR COV2 in it. Not even in the Wet Market and they were tested.
TBH I am surprised China havent just lied and come out and said they found it in the Wet Market, but they havent, maybe because they are still pushing for the "it came from outside China" angle.
They claimed it came from Australian meat imports didn't they?
Thats right they did but its actually impossible and Ill tell you why (its actually pretty integral to the discussion here).....
........WARNING LONGISH SCIENTIFIC RANT FOLLOWING>.........
Viruses are not living things, but they "behave" like they are. They are simply a strip of genetic material (either RNA or DNA) wrapped in fat. Their whole purpose in life (they dont really have a purpose, they are not living creatures but act like they do) is to replicate otherwise they die off and become extinct. They MUST have a host or they die forever.
All viruses rely on mutation to survive. That is that each time they replicate there are small changes in the RNA/DNA code and they may come from the host sometimes and these changes make the virus either more or less likely to find a host and replicate. A change that makes the virus more likely to replicate obviously. Its evolution on a fast track (due to short lifespans and replication rates).
For a zoonotic virus to successful transfer between an animal and humans the virus has to "perform two tricks". The first is that it has to bind to the same receptors in a human as in the host animal. This is dumb luck and this was the case with SARS1 (ACE2 receptors). The second trick is the harder trick and it isnt luck, its a factor of this evolution described above. The second trick a zoonotic virus has to perform to be successful is it has to be effective at spreading between people.
Earl has stated a few times and he is 100% correct that there have been quite a number of zoonotic viruses in the recent past including SARS 1, MERS, Hendra, Zika etc. The reason that all of these viruses didnt turn into a pandemic is that they were not very effective at spreading between people and eventually they die off. This is not dumb luck, its a factor of how many people the virus gets the opportunity to go through and therefore, how many little mutations and variations get to happen as a virus replicates in a person. The longer it is in people in a population, the more revisions and the more likely it is to spread between people.
SARS COV2 (COVID) came out of the gates, HIGHLY contagious, already completely adapted to effective spreading between humans. This is a big part of the thinking behind the lab leak hypothesis. It is not impossible that this could have happened "naturally" in the wild but it would mean that there had to have been a human population somewhere that has had this virus for a long time, long enough for a zoonotic virus to adapt like this, PRIOR to hitting Wuhan with such force. Its not impossible but it is unlikely.
Im not putting forward conspiracy theories, Im merely expanding on some of the science for consideration and discussion. Both the zoonotic and the lab leak hypothesis are live and viable hypothesis and neither have been falsified. Contrary to some opinions, I'm of the opinion that the science actually points away from the animal to human hypothesis.