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Slack / Private Message Drop, p.353 [SLACK_000567] · slack_pm:msg:03700

Date: 2021-01-02 13:47
Type: chat message · slack
mentioned: Robert F. Garry
recipient: Robert F. Garry, Edward C. Holmes, Andrew Rambaut
speaker: Kristian G. Andersen

Recipients on this medium are inferred from channel membership, not per-message addressing.

Yeah, I think people who keep insisting that all this weirdness from China MUST be because it came from a lab just don't understand outbreak response - it's not, it's just politics and power play. We see this every damn time there'san outbreak - I'm sure @Robert Garry remember when he got his visa pulled for sniffing around too much... :wink:

In context

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2021-01-02 12:42 Andrew Rambaut open

They clearly have one main lineage that is growing (and a handful of other introductions that are probably going nowhere).
2021-01-02 12:57 Kristian G. Andersen open

Thanks Andrew - I suspect they might have talked to them directly, or they're just going with what Twitter is saying since people are confused... It'd be great if the DK folks could get a little help setting up BEAST. I enquired this morning about their ability to use the genomics directly to estimate growth rates and they seemed very confused - I honestly don't think there's asingle person in DK who knows how to run it. Amazing dataset though! Separately, I'm talking to Mads' boss, so I'll mention the need to use the genomics data more directly as well.
2021-01-02 13:25 Kristian G. Andersen open

Btw - that NYT article is really really good! Haven't read the AP one...
2021-01-02 13:38 Edward C. Holmes open

Frankie is indeed a total twat. I can't stand to even think about him. Agree about the NYT article. I spent a lot of time talking to them. They've got loads of data from December and earlier. Clearly zero evidence for a lab escape and there were was zero chat about it in China at the time. The WHO team are leaving this week. Seems to me it isgoing to be a complete waste of time because they are not going to talk to the key people. China is just going topush the 'it's not China' line.
2021-01-02 13:47 Kristian G. Andersen

Yeah, I think people who keep insisting that all this weirdness from China MUST be because it came from a lab just don't understand outbreak response - it's not, it's just politics and power play. We see this every damn time there'san outbreak - I'm sure @Robert Garry remember when he got his visa pulled for sniffing around too much... :wink:
2021-01-02 13:48 Kristian G. Andersen open

Not ideal, by no means, but it's not exactly 'weird' or 'unusual' - it's just the typical bullshit.
2021-01-02 14:02 Edward C. Holmes open

Yes, in this case it is Xi Jinping pushing the 'it's not from China' line in an attempt to restore some domestic pride inChina. I'm sure he's saying this to bolster his own popularity at home rather than for international politics.

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