A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Certainly we need to continue to investigate the origins of SARS-CoV-2. My colleagues and I have not stopped doing so since we wrote Proximal Origins. Indeed a urgent international investigation, which perforce must include China (that's where the "interesting" bats are), is necessary to fill remaining gaps in our knowledge of coronaviruses diversity.We need to "follow the animals" and explore every possible point of entry of potentially coronavirus infected animals into Wuhan, especially focused on the wildlife trade for food and traditional medicine.If - as some have argued - we should focus attention on an unsubstantiated hypothesis of lab leak, this would be aserious mistake. The world would be left much more vulnerable to future pandemics. Sure "investigate" the lab. But, arm-waving about a forensic investigation ( whatever that means) is not helpful. It's not even clear to me what the proponents of a "forensic" lab investigation hope to find. IMO notebooks from Shi's lab, sick days of WIV personnel, freezer inventories listing samples are not going to be informative in any way. What other scientific data or even other data do the Lab Leak proponent hope to uncover?Ironically, most "forensic" investigations at least those on TV involve looking at the DNA. Excepting the fact that it's RNA not DNA, we already did this in Proximal Origins.It would be nice to have additional information on the early case of SARS-CoV-2 patients in Wuhan, but this paper: March 26, 2020 N Engl J Med 2020; 382:1199-1207 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001316 was very granular and clearly pointed to the wildlife trade as the origin of the virus.
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Yes, eventually the origin of SARS-CoV-2 will be described. A close progenitor in a bat or perhaps more likely another animal host will eventually be uncovered. Sometimes you get lucky (as in the first SARS) and other times not.
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This is great Bob! Let's have that be the response from you :wink:. I especially love this part: "Ironically, most "forensic" investigations at least those on TV involve looking at the DNA.Excepting the fact that it's RNA not DNA, we already did this in Proximal Origins"
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Oh Marc. I think people have trouble reading. [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-05-25 at 1.22.31 PM.png]
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2021-05-25 13:49
Kristian G. Andersen
Is she daft? [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-05-25 at 1.49.05 PM.png]
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argh [shared file(s): Timeline_ How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible - The Washington Post.pdf]
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Sorry, I'm crook. Had a very bad reaction to my first AZ vaccine yesterday. Bed is soaked. I've not been this ill sinceI went to that cave in Yunnan a couple of years ago.
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Sorry to hear it...pretty rare.
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Ooh. Bad luck. Had my second dose last week. Was a little bit under the weather with the first but fine for the second. Another week and I will be invincible. I will be eating bats for breakfast.