COVID-19: Chapter 10 - Mission Achomlished!

My dad suffered dementia to an extreme degree for a long time. He still watched Fox News every day. I too was sadglad he passed away right before trump took over.

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Was it referring to a human modified strain leaking from the lab or a natural one that they were studying which they think leaked?

You mean her theory? Iā€™m not sure. I donā€™t care enough to find out.

Data isnā€™t consistent with a leak from the lab either. IIRC there was multiple strains passing through the market super early on. Thatā€™s decidedly not consistent with a lab leak.

Itā€™s already been documented what happened.

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They provide a lot of evidence. Itā€™s 90 min.

Seems reasonable path of enquiry and not totally insane. They say same. They admit neither case is fully supported.

They say it is much more likely it was a strain subjected to gain of function modifications.

Thereā€™s no way Iā€™m listening to a known grifter type for 90 minutes, especially when theyā€™re trying to overcome the extensive genetic evidence itā€™s not a lab leak.

This is practically gibberish, or at least, itā€™s definitely not how someone doing what they allege is happening would talk.

I already said Iā€™m not an expert Iā€™m sure Iā€™m not using the language precisely.

Anyway, Iā€™m not getting into a fight over something nobody else has even listened to.

I have no idea if it was natural or man-made but the show makes it clear exploring the latter is not insane. There are fair lines of enquiry.

I really hate the impulse to attack something a person hasnā€™t even read or listened to. Itā€™s a really bad trait.

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I listened to as much as I could handle. The real tragedy here is that Harris doesnā€™t really know what they are talking about and isnā€™t equipped to rebut any of the points effectively. He is, in many ways as a podcast host, a smarter Joe Rogan that just goes along with the guest narrative.

Would it sway you at all if you found out that the talented Mr Ridley is a Viscount libertarian Brexiter, global warming skeptic (that just happens to own the land on which there is a coal mine), and has been beating the Lab Leak conspiracy drum since May 2020? He is a vaccine supporter and does have a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford, which he earned researching the mating system of pheasants, so heā€™s not a complete science buffoon. They do have some points, but they are also trying to sell a book thus have a clear profit incentive.

Has anyone said this shouldnā€™t be looked into? There have been a number of studies into zoonotic vs lab origin and the preponderance of evidence is weighted heavily towards zoonotic but it still isnā€™t 100%. At this point though, I donā€™t think there ever will be a stone cold lock either way and that <10% (or whatever it is) chance it is lab leak will forever live rent free in the minds of the contrarian thinker.

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I appreciate you at least listened to some of it.

As I said. I have no opinion on this as I have no t looked into it much.

That said the one point Harris makes which seems totally obvious to me is the risk of gain of function research seems exceptionally high and at a minimum should be heavily regulated.

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It is!

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Globally?

I think so.

https://twitter.com/nebuer42/status/1628906679495426048?s=61&t=0cJ-rOI2PBK0tdKzdNOWpw

I felt better before I read this!

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I assume the seasonal flu vaccine does nothing to protect from H5N1?

It helps, actually.

Yes assume it will be better than nothing other than low uptake.

So far, cases of bird flu in humans had been ā€œsporadic,ā€ Briand said. ā€œBut when you see that there are a number of potential cases surrounding this initial case, you always wonder what has happened: is it because maybe the initial case has transmitted the disease to other humans?ā€ she said. ā€œSo we are really concerned about the potential human-to-human transmission coming from this initial spillover from animals.ā€

Investigators are also working to establish whether the girl, her father and the contact cases were exposed to infected birds. Wild birds were found dead at a lake near the girlā€™s remote village.

Globally, there have been more than 450 bird flu cases in humans since 2003, according to the WHO. The death rate for humans with H5N1 is ā€œover 50%,ā€ Briand said.

Nope

We currently have no vaccine to use in humans; nor does the seasonal flu vaccine work against avian flu.