China Refuses To Give WHO Raw Data on Early Covid-19 Cases (wsj.com) 168
Chinese authorities refused to provide World Health Organization investigators with raw, personalized data on early Covid-19 cases that could help them determine how and when the coronavirus first began to spread in China, according to WHO investigators who described heated exchanges over the lack of detail. The Wall Street Journal: The Chinese authorities turned down requests to provide such data on 174 cases of Covid-19 that they have identified from the early phase of the outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. The investigators are part of a WHO team that this week completed a monthlong mission in China aimed at determining the origins of the pandemic. Chinese officials and scientists provided their own extensive summaries and analysis of data on the cases, said the WHO team members. They also supplied aggregated data and analysis on retrospective searches through medical records in the months before the Wuhan outbreak was identified, saying that they had found no evidence of the virus. But the WHO team wasn't allowed to view the raw underlying data on those retrospective studies, which could allow them to conduct their own analysis on how early and how extensively the virus began to spread in China, the team members said. Member states typically provide such data as part of WHO investigations, said team members.
Surprised? (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, who did not see that coming? Shocked I say, I am shocked!
Re:Surprised? (Score:4, Interesting)
China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. But the outbreak happened in the same square kilometer as the virology lab working on coronaviruses.
If the data showed that this was an improbable coincidence, China would enthusiastically release the data. Since they are not doing that, it is reasonable to presume the data shows otherwise.
It looks like someone at the lab was sloppy. The IMF estimates the total cost of Covid at $28 Trillion. I wonder if this was the most expensive "oops" in human history.
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My friend in China (I know, anecdotal) says the Chinese are quite sexist.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/1... [nytimes.com]
Over time I believe things will improve there in this category. It's a very closed (by law) society.
I think the person who accidentally released the virus was that person ('bat woman'), and the sexist gossip is their cultural way to cope with the national shame and distract. In the United States we act in a similar way. It's hard (impossible?) to deal with the horror and
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Why does that seem like an improbably coincidence? Wuhang is the 8th most populated city in China and having people that work in virology are going to recognize a new virus strain. Obviously there's not going to be an outbreak out in the empty farmlands - they'd just think it was a case of the flu.
The data likely is embarrassing to China showing they didn't react fast enough, didn't listen to warnings about its spread, and hid cases later on when they said it was under control. That's my guess as to why
Re:Surprised? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Why does that seem like an improbably coincidence?
One thing I read was that the the fact that the virus is both very transmissible and very deadly is an improbable coincidence to have arrived at naturally. I.e., being deadly is not a survival trait for a virus, and a deadly virus tends not to spread well because the host dies first.
The data likely is embarrassing to China showing they didn't react fast enough, didn't listen to warnings about its spread, and hid cases later on when they said it was under control.
I'm sorry but if you don't have anything to hide then show your data. Otherwise people will rightly assume the worst.
"Did you kill this man?"
"No."
"Where were you last night?"
"None of your business."
"..."
We're aren't treating Chi
Re:Surprised? (Score:5, Insightful)
I question this.
This virus is not very deadly -- it (like the flu) very rarely kills younger people. There are many asymptomatic carriers. It is easily transmittable via casual social contact - most importantly a few days before symptoms, if any, typically become evident.
If a single young person with a lot of social contacts became infected by this virus, it is not unlikely that it would spread world wide as it has. If that person spread it to three other people (I've seen estimates of R0 for SARS-CoV-2 of about 2.5 but obviously that depends very much on the degree of social contacts in the community) who also had a lot of social contacts, the cascade would likely begin.
This is nothing like Ebola which is very deadly and debilitating and not highly transmittable via casual social contact. Such diseases tend to nearly burn out for a variety of reasons (including emotional reasons such as degree of fear of contracting the disease).
If SARS-CoV-2 had emerged 100 years ago before vaccines, it would probably be much like the flu is today (even without vaccines). A lot of older people would die in the first few years of it but then over the next ten years it would become a fairly uncommon cause of death. On an ongoing basis, some children and young people would die, often before spreading their genes, because their immune systems were not genetically capable of dealing effectively with the disease. However, most children would develop full or partial immunity and continued re-exposure to the virus or minor variants would have limited effect on them. As people got old and their general health declines (making them unable to weather the storm of any illness) and immune systems decline (making their ability to fight off the virus before becoming 'ill' from it), COVID-19 would just become another cause of death in the elderly -- but probably mostly taking market share from other diseases like the flu.
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I question this.
Fair enough, it's just something I read.
This virus is not very deadly -- it (like the flu) very rarely kills younger people.
It's many times more deadly than the flu. Yes I understand it hits young people less, but overall it's much more deadly.
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Spanish flu was deadlier, it all depends on the strain.
Re: Surprised? (Score:2)
It was deadlier, but there was no effective medical treatment. Every last single patient of COVID-19 that has had oxygen would have died 100 years ago. That in the UK increases the death rate by around a factor of four.
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Possibly true, not sure how good medical treatment of Cytokine storms are now. The 2nd wave of the Spanish flu killed a lot of young healthy people.
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China does have something to hide like how they didn't react fast enough, didn't listen to warnings about its spread, and hid cases later on when they said it was under control. Didn't I just write this?
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didn't react fast enough, didn't listen to warnings about its spread, and hid cases later on when they said it was under control.
So... they reacted exactly the same as nearly every Western country in March.
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Yes, but China thinks they're exceptional so being just the level of a Western country would be bad
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So like so many viruses, such as the Spanish flu (originated in Kansas, but due to censorship, only Spain talked about it) or the swine flu, not to mention Ebola.
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I don't imagine USA would turn classified data over to WHO either
Then I'd be calling out the USA for it instead of China then. Does that have any relevance to what is right, or do you just want to play a game speculative what-about-ism?
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Then you should call the USA out.
Because the US absolutely wouldn't turn over "raw, personalized data on early Covid-19 cases"... or for that matter personalized data on any disease. It is illegal [hhs.gov] to do so.
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"Wuhang is the 8th most populated city in China"
So right there the chances are all ready less than 1 in 8.
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The data likely is embarrassing to China showing they didn't react fast enough, didn't listen to warnings about its spread, and hid cases later on when they said it was under control. That's my guess as to why they're not releasing it, not some crazy
Exactly my thinking form a year ago - and did not change.
You do understand that outbreaks happen (Score:2, Informative)
We know at the very least the virus isn't man made. We know that because it's pretty easy for a biologist to tell. Putting a virus together with the tools we have today leaves markets. I'm getting this out of the way because that's th
Read what he wrote, not what AOC told you to read (Score:5, Insightful)
Shanghai Bill said:
>> It looks like someone at the lab was sloppy. The IMF estimates the total cost of Covid at $28 Trillion. I wonder if this was the most expensive "oops" in human history.
Let me point out the words "sloppy" and "oops".
Think about what those words mean for a second.
When Shanghai Bill says it looks like somebody got sloppy with safety protocols while studying a virus and had an oops, your reply is that he's spreading a conspiracy theory about the government manufacturing the virus. YOU made up the "virus isn't man made" crap, Shanghai Bill didn't say that.
> I have oriental friends. Many Americans are very, very racists
You are replying to Shanghai Bill. Shanghai. Do you know where Shanghai is? Do you think that maybe Shanghai Bill knows a few more "oriental" people than you do?
Oh Lord I didn't even notice it was Shanghai Bill (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, and one more thing (Score:2)
It's a pretty common tactic when you want to spread a talking point that is abhorrent. You start with a softer version of it. That's why I'm accusing here. Whether Bill knows he's doing it (he does, it's Shanghai Bill)
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Dude, when you came at a guy from Shanghai with "I have lots of oriental friends - you're just a racist American" after completely failing to read his post before replying.
In that situation it's completely okay to respond with "oops, I'm idiot". In fact, that's the only response that doesn't make you look like even more of an idiot. Trying to justify it and still act like you were right just makes you look like your stupid boundless.
If those words are THAT hard for you to say, you could use "my bad" or "me
Oh boy, I've been cancelled (Score:2)
Man, this country is so fucking boned. We are such idiots...
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Kinda agree with you about Barefoot though.
Sometimes Barefoot is insightful, sometimes completely off his rocker. Reminds me of a certain alcoholic I know.
So if I had to pick two it would be Barefoot and ... well this one dude who sometimes seems utterly incapable of ever acknowledging that his first guess didn't happen to be right.
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Well I've been talking to Shanghai Bill here for probably ten years and I actually pay attention to what people say sometimes, so ...
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Fact is, that I was perfectly happy to believe that this was natural, but more and more of this is pointing at being unnatural.
In particular, I am still trying to find out how a Coloradan got infected with a variant from UK, when he was not directly nor indirectly exposed via contact tracing.
There are increasing number of issues popping up that is starting to point to real issues in this.
As to issues with racism, that is secondary to national security. And as to violence, that was caused by t
Re:You do understand that outbreaks happen (Score:5, Informative)
I have oriental friends. Many Americans are very, very racists and often violent.
How do your "oriental friends" like it when you refer to them that way?
I have friends/family from that part of the world (both in the US and in Asia). They do worry about racism, and I think it's worth helping to make sure that people make the distinction between Chinese people and the Chinese government. (There's a post, below, to this effect.)
Chinese people are great and should be supported, not ostracized. The Chinese government, on the other hand, is evil and should be dealt with accordingly.
No one here said that COVID was engineered in that lab. However, you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility of poor practices in the lab causing problems:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/... [taiwannews.com.tw]
Regarding your news article, how is the WHO able to ascertain now that the lab's procedures over a year ago were safe, and that they had no samples there that could have led to this pandemic? The Chinese government won't even release basic data about early infections, yet you somehow think they left the lab as-is for the WHO to evaluate a year later?
They don't really care (Score:2)
Re:You do understand that outbreaks happen (Score:5, Insightful)
We know at the very least the virus isn't man made. We know that because it's pretty easy for a biologist to tell. Putting a virus together with the tools we have today leaves markets.
No, we don't know that it was not man made deliberately or through accident - It's not detectable if they were cultivating virus through its natural replication and attempting to have it transmit via test animals. Only certain ways of causing a virus to arise by directly manipulating it would have left "marks" - plenty of indirect ways available to researchers.
Holy shit, is /. really this far gone? (Score:2)
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I have oriental friends.
Not for long once they see that you call them 'oriental'...
Re:You do understand that outbreaks happen (Score:5, Informative)
We know at the very least the virus isn't man made. We know that because it's pretty easy for a biologist to tell. Putting a virus together with the tools we have today leaves markets. I'm getting this out of the way because that's the implication behind the conspiracy theory, even if people pivot away from it (as you did).
Here's this bullshit again. There's a difference between "the virus that is of a type that we absolutely know is studied at the lab might have escaped from there in an accident" and "People at the lab are evil scientists who created the virus and released it". Quit conflating the two. It's disingenuous, it's a lie, and it detracts from an adult conversation. Of course, we both know that's the point, right? No need to research where the virus originated because to suggest it came from the lab is a crazy "debunked" conspiracy theory, right? Bullshit.
Please stop spreading these unsubstantiated claims.
It's neither a "lie" nor is it "unsubstantiated". It's something that needs to be researched.
I have oriental friends.
I have an "oriental" wife. Dumbass.
Many Americans are very, very racists and often violent. We don't need to give them any more reasons to act on that.
So, your argument is that we can't really research the origin of the Wuhan coronavirus (yes, I called it that because that's the proper common name for it) because there are racist Americans.
First, there are racists all over the world - this isn't some uniquely American thing. I could spend the next hour telling you about the various prejudices that exist in Asia. Hell, I could spend the next hour telling you about the prejudices that exist between various Asian ethnicities and nationalities.
Second, this virus originated in China. The reason the Chinese don't want it to be referred to as the Wuhan Coronavirus is because they were domestically pushing the idea that some US Marines brought it into their country during a joint military exercise. They're claiming it was (get this) created by the Americans in a lab and foisted on them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0... [nytimes.com]
Furthermore this nonsense distracts from serious debate about how to address the pandemic while shifting blame from our government and it's horrible response to the Chinese Government. And that's what this whole Wuhan lab nonsense is really about: Blame Shifting.
Our government?
https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]
Explain then all the countries who've fared worse than the US and didn't have that incompetent Trump leading them.
And "blame shifting?" No, we just want to know where it originated because it might be possible next time to stop this from happening. But we need to know what happened first.
Also, nobody who talks about "the government response" without mentioning New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania nursing home deaths (states where they forced nursing homes to take in CV-positive patients even if the virus wasn't in the home) is being serious. Up until April something like half of all deaths from the virus in the US could be traced back to NY nursing homes. Trump sent a hospital ship there and it went unused because God forbid someone use it and make him look good.
https://apnews.com/article/ap-... [apnews.com]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/n... [wsj.com]
"Officials in both political parties on Friday rebuked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after
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I mean, we know that Cuomo tossed 9000 COVID positive elderly into nursing homes without the capacity to isolate them per the CDC directive, so if you assume that they each killed off 1 additional person through infecting others he is responsible for quite a large number of America's death toll. Possibly as much as 10% as of Dec 21st 2020 assuming between 2 and 3.
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And that's what this whole Wuhan lab nonsense is really about: Blame Shifting.
Your axe to grind against conservative Western governments is causing you to carry water for the CCP. Inasmuch as it is not helpful to assume a lab accident, neither is it helpful to take the CCP's word for anything where its public image is concerned. No matter what, further scrutiny should be applied to China's handling of this outbreak.
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If someone posits that a worker at the lab was sloppy, which resulted in an accidental exposure, then ended up spreading the virus to their close contacts outside the lab, how can that be classed as a "conspiracy theory"?
It doesn't require a group of people to conspire to result in that accidental release. It just requires one person to accidentally expose themselves to a harmful biological agent. That's not a conspiracy. So theorizing that may have happened, is not a "conspiracy theory".
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Your stat is incredibly misleading.
Yet, it's the only stat we have, because China isn't releasing any data. Can you imagine if it had originated in the US, and they refused to release any data, what sort of uproar, in the US mainly, there'd be? Why does China get a mulligan?
I have oriental friends
The fact that you called them "oriental" means that is probably not true. But anyway, are you able to differentiate between the CCP and the people of China? Yes? So am I, and so are most people. What are we supposed to do let the CCP off the hook about this little COVID-1
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He has Chinese friends. Middle east is also in Asia.
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China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. But the outbreak happened in the same square kilometer as the virology lab working on coronaviruses.
If the data showed that this was an improbable coincidence, China would enthusiastically release the data. Since they are not doing that, it is reasonable to presume the data shows otherwise.
It looks like someone at the lab was sloppy.
China never enthusiastically releases data to anything, the fact they aren't doing so in this case either is evidence of nothing.
The first recognized super-spreader event was in the seafood market close to the lab, but I don't know if the first documented cases had the same proximity.
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China never enthusiastically releases data to anything, the fact they aren't doing so in this case either is evidence of nothing.
The first recognized super-spreader event was in the seafood market close to the lab, but I don't know if the first documented cases had the same proximity.
We don't know, because China refuses to release the data.
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If the data showed that this was an improbable coincidence, China would enthusiastically release the data. Since they are not doing that, it is reasonable to presume the data shows otherwise.
This seems like a fair inference. The only reason for China to refuse to co-operate at such basic level is that they have something of major importance to them to conceal.
There are only so many things that it could be, and it's reasonable to draw the inference there that they're concealing causing the release of vir
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Jumping to conclusions on both counts.
It is far more likely that a simpler motive is at play: it is the culture of secrecy that is ingrained in Chinese officials (and most totalitarian states are that way). They don't release any data, because they fear that there may be somet
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2000 roentgen.
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China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. But the outbreak happened in the same square kilometer as the virology lab working on coronaviruses.
You're conflating two different labs. The lab that is around the corner from the wet market is akin to a CDC office. The Wuhan Institute of Virology, where specific coronavirus research is conducted using animals, is 8km away. Source : https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
So while it's in the vicinity and very well could be linked, it increases the scope from blocks to a different part of downtown Wuhan. I don't find the lab escape scenario to be the most likely, but I expect the Chinese government absolutely
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China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. But the outbreak happened in the same square kilometer as the virology lab working on coronaviruses.
"The United States has an area of 3.7 million square kilometers. But a volcanic eruption in Hawaii happened in the same square kilometer as the volcanology lab working on volcanos.
It looks like someone at the lab was sloppy. "
That's the same level of idiocy. Of course it's not a coincidence you nitwit. That's like complaining that statistically the number of people who have heart attacks in hospitals is extremely high compared to the rest of the population--so hospitals must be inducing heart attacks.
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But the outbreak happened in the same square kilometer as the virology lab working on coronaviruses.
It looks to be 12 km away, on the other side of town, no?
google maps [google.com]
Still kind of close, but not exactly across the street from the virology lab.
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It looks like someone at the lab was sloppy.
And: But the outbreak happened in the same square kilometer as the virology lab working on coronaviruses.
The only one sloppy is you. Current data indicates: the virus did not even originate in China. ...
And the lab you mention: does it actually work on/with corona viruses? I think it does not, but who am I
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yeah. *breaking* news . .
"Communist regime refuses to provide data, and insist investigators accept and use its own 'investigation'"
Also in tonight's news:
"water is wet"
"cats land on their feet"
"eggs smell bad when left outside cracked for several months"
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TFA doesn't say why they were not given access. At least not the bit I can read that is visible over the paywall.
Europe has some quite strong laws in handling patient data. Not sure we could have given that data to them here.
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Of course!
We know that in China the privacy of the individual is of paramount importance...
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You would be surprised. Unlike what the propaganda tells you, privacy is actually important in China and there are rules around healthcare. I have had first hand experience of it, trying to get medical records for a child.
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Correct.
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I'm shocked because China is actually refusing to provide personalised data; which I believe is correct.
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I have heard patient -1 was a bat.
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Hey! Let's leave Batman out of this.
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No worse than the BLS (Score:3, Insightful)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will not allow you to see the raw data they use to determine their unemployment figures. The only people who can see it are people in academia and they have to both register with BLS and are prohibited from revealing the same data.
While unemployment numbers are nowhere near the same as who got infected and when, the U.S. does the same thing when it comes to its data.
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There is nothing to stop people from collecting their own unemployment data. Many companies do precisely that so they can get a jump on the BLS. One way to do that is to use satellite photos to count cars in company parking lots.
But with China's Covid data, there is no other source.
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But with China's Covid data, there is no other source.
Maybe putting all those surveillance devices to use.
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Whataboutism.
While both things may be true, the one has nothing to do with the other.
shock (Score:5, Interesting)
And this surprises nobody I'm sure.
Look. Don't be an asshat who confuses Chinese people with China, especially if you are a Chinese person. Chinese people are people, China is a blight on the Earth hurting those people and generally up to no good. China would like to bullshit dazzle and distract you from a very simple fact, engaging in conspiracy level nonsense is day-to-day manipulation they engage in domestically and not something they've avoid internationally so it really doesn't matter if they are guilty or not of any particular offense or shenanigans they are accused of because their ethics are beyond forgiveness or redemption by any present or future action.
There is nothing to do a this point but defend ourselves and stand ready to assist with any effort to remove the evil which has installed itself in China. Ideally and an internal effort fostered by keeping lines of communication open to China's own people. Someday a critical mass of Chinese people will understand dissident isn't a bad word in any free government that humanity should permit.
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And this surprises nobody I'm sure.
Look. Don't be an asshat who confuses Chinese people with China, especially if you are a Chinese person. Chinese people are people, China is a blight on the Earth hurting those people and generally up to no good. China would like to bullshit dazzle and distract you from a very simple fact. Engaging in conspiracy level nonsense is day-to-day manipulation they perform domestically and not something they avoid internationally. It really doesn't matter if they are guilty of an
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence
Well duh (Score:4, Insightful)
Who would really expect them to release data that would contradict their obfuscations and outright lies?
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Well, we all know the saying. It's all lies, damned lies, and Intel's bullshit benchmarks.
Why a fear of sunlight ? (Score:3)
If they have nothing to hide then why a reluctance of making it all visible. A few details need to be redacted to avoid doxing the individual early virus victims, but what else ?
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If they have nothing to hide then why a reluctance of making it all visible. A few details need to be redacted to avoid doxing the individual early virus victims, but what else ?
If the truth will set you free, freedoms are quite down on the list for this particular country.
Not really surprising self-preservation is also kicking in. Countries would likely tend to do that when an entire planet is looking for someone to fill the "blame" column on the financial spreadsheet.
Not surprising. Look at their CO2 (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, they do not want to turn over even cleaned up data for what would show WHERE this originated at.
I used to believe that this was from nature, but now am starting to wonder. Fact is, that Chinese government DOES have several major bio labs there that non-chinese are NOT allowed to visit.
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Fact is, that Chinese government DOES have several major bio labs there that non-chinese are NOT allowed to visit.
Fact is the Chinese government DOES have one major bio lab there, that included staff from the US CDC until the Trump administration pulled them long before the pandemic.
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The CDC had zero employees working in the Wuhan lab and the plans to pull the US researchers from the Beijing CDC office were crafted under the Obama administration before Trump ever took office. We're also talking about around 30 people, in Beijing. Do you think they could've or would've been allowed to do a damn thing by the Communist Chinese government to stop COVID?
But hey, don't let reality get in the way of blaming your orange boogeyman!
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The CDC had zero employees working in the Wuhan lab
They were stationed in Beijing. They had traveled to the Wuhan lab in the past. When those evil Chinese...let them in.
It's not like China gets nothing from this arrangement. The CDC is sharing its findings and expertise.
the plans to pull the US researchers from the Beijing CDC office were crafted under the Obama administration
It's amazing just how long the Obama administration lasted. Things that happened in 2018 were apparently still done by the Obama administration.
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They had traveled... so what, you think that they would have both been at the lab in question on the day of accidental release and been in a position to keep it from happening? I mean, you want to talk about an improbable series of events I'm pretty sure that takes the cake.
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so what, you think that they would have both been at the lab in question on the day of accidental release and been in a position to keep it from happening?
Ah, so you're deep in the QAnon land.
COVID-19 is structured in a way that we did not think could work. You don't design a virus that you don't think can work, just like you don't design a car you don't think can roll down a road.
Re: Not surprising. Look at their CO2 (Score:2)
Jesus tittyfucking Christ on a pogostick you're a moron. In order for the CDC members to have been able to do anything to stop the virus at the lab in question in the first fucking place, the assumption has already been made that the virus came from the lab. If the virus didn't come from the lab, than the fact that the CDC members were removed from China is irrelevant from the start.
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Jesus tittyfucking Christ on a pogostick you're a moron [..] the assumption has already been made that the virus came from the lab
The morons are the people making that assumption.
Second, the claim in question is that China doesn't let foreigners into the Wuhan lab. They did let foreigners into the Wuhan lab.
Your conspiracy-addled brain leapt to preventing the release of a man-made virus. Which was not the topic at all. But being able to follow a topic would get in the way of following the conspiracies you like.
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And no, there are MULTIPLE viral labs there that are under Chinese government control. The one that you are talking about, is the public one.
Ah yes, labs so secret only people on Slashdot know about them....
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Here is a simple question for you. If you needed multiple businesses or labs with similar interests, and using some of the same ppl, would you locate them close to each other or far away?
tick-tock.
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Re:Commies lie. (Score:4, Insightful)
Any person or group powerful enough lies through their teeth as a matter of habit. The rest of us only do so as best as we're able to get away with.
Powerless lie. (Score:2)
Any person or group powerful enough lies through their teeth as a matter of habit.
Geeks don't lie. ;-)
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Why? Because they are all politicians.
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Hell, we see liars in American State offices.
It was the orange haired fascist who covered up placing 9000 COVID positive elderly in nursing homes not equipped with isolation facilities in direct contravention of CDC recommendations
Don't you wish that you had actually READ and thought, rather than simply jump up and down and scream like Trump/GOP?
Are you now going to tell us that Trump won?
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Not sure why you were downvoted?
EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak have been working with Shi Zhengli, a virologist at the WIV, for more than 15 years.
The NIH makes seven demands of EcoHealth; these were first reported by the Wall Street Journal this week, and have been viewed by Nature. The agency asks EcoHealth to obtain a vial of the SARS-CoV-2 sample that was used by the WIV to determine the virus's genetic sequence. It also requests that EcoHealth arranges an inspection of the WIV by US federal officials.
Daszak calls the demands from the NIH "heinous", and worries that the funding freeze is delaying vital work to identify and prevent the next pandemic. The NIH declined to comment, saying that the agency does not disclose internal deliberations on a specific grant.
https://www.nature.com/article... [nature.com]
https://www.wsj.com/articles/n... [wsj.com]
Conspiracists will feast on this (Score:5, Insightful)
Dictators don't understand that hiding stuff only fuels conspiracy theories against them.
The early stages of Covid's spread is one of the most important scientific puzzles of our time. We need to prevent it from happening again, for dirt-obvious reasons. This is inexcusable. If the top screwed up early by trying to avoid embarrassment, then admit it and move on. Take your lumps now rather than have this fester. Xi, be an adult, not Don II.
WHO? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
One question which I never see addressed. Why are they called the World Health Organization when they are located and operate in China?
WHO HQ is in Geneva, Switzerland.
Smoking gun? (Score:2)
It's like that giant Jedi hand-wave (Score:2)
"Nothing to see here. Move along."
Happy Lunar New Year! (Score:2)
Still nothing? ( It was worth a shot)
Re: (Score:2)