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1. 2021-02-12 12:34 Edward C. Holmes open
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/12/china-covid-misinformation-li-meng-yan/ "Even now, she is preparing another paper, nearing 30 pages, that she hopes will refute her critics and bring fresh attention to her claims about China, covid-19 and what she says is an international coverup campaign." That's us.
2. 2021-02-12 12:35 Robert F. Garry open
   A couple of factors from my corner. Most of the mutations are in loops (not beta sheets not helixes) which tend to bevariable across all viral glycoproteins. The core amino acids the form a scaffold in virion (prefusion form) andpostfusion forms that are more or less constant. The NTD and CTD also have a core structure that is more or lessconstant. Chronic infection is a rather special case as then immune selection/escape is going to play a more important role, if not the key role. Even a less "fit" virus might be selected under immune pressure if it can escape the immune response. However, transmission between two nonimmune humans is another thing. It's possible animmune escape could play a role (for ex: secretory IgA in respiratory secretions of the donor) but not clear. More likely for transmission it's mostly about virus loads or fitness to replicate in the URT. So a lot of mutations could impact that - ones that make the virus adsorb better (like in the NTD) or bind to receptors in the RBD better (NellY, EriK) or infect better P681H/R come to mind. But mutations in virus regulatory factors like NSP6 could also contribute. I'm actually a little surprised that there are not more transcriptase or other "run of the mill" replicationcompetence mutations. The calculus for transmission changes again in humans with immunity - then it's likely to bemore even mostly about immune escape, but you are not likely to select for less fit viruses in this case.
3. 2021-02-12 12:40 Robert F. Garry
   @Eddie Holmes One fact check: "Yan's paper on Zenodo -- despite several blistering scientific critiques and widespread news coverage of its alleged flaws -- now has been viewed more than *1 million times*, probably making it the most widely read research on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Harvard misinformation researchers." *Only 1 M seems kinda paltry.*
4. 2021-02-12 12:41 Edward C. Holmes open
   @Eddie Holmes Not even close!

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