--- type: Conversation title: Private channel session 1173 description: "slack conversation, 19 messages, 2021-03-30." tags: - conversation - slack medium: slack message_count: 19 started_at: "2021-03-30T08:24:42" ended_at: "2021-03-30T10:58:39" duration_seconds: 9237 sources: - { id: slack_pm, resource: /sources/slack-pm.md, title: Slack / Private Message Drop, author: "process:senate-hsgac-release" } generated: { by: randpaul-corpus-pipeline/1.0, at: "2026-08-01T12:42:27Z" } status: stable --- A slack conversation of 19 messages spanning 2h 33m. # Metadata - **Started:** 2021-03-30T08:24:42 - **Ended:** 2021-03-30T10:58:39 - **Duration:** 2h 33m - **Participants:** 2 - **Source:** [slack_pm](/sources/slack-pm.md) - **Pages:** 660-662 # Participants * [Andrew Rambaut](/people/andrew-rambaut.md) * [Edward C. Holmes](/people/edward-c-holmes.md) * [Kristian G. Andersen](/people/kristian-g-andersen.md) * [Robert F. Garry](/people/robert-f-garry.md) # Transcript **[2021-03-30T08:24:42] Robert F. Garry:** PeterFoodSafety talking about GD sequences being "identical" to early Wuhan sequences. Is this true? **[2021-03-30T08:25:57] Kristian G. Andersen:** No **[2021-03-30T08:26:34] Kristian G. Andersen:** They are(ish) in the RBD **[2021-03-30T08:43:27] Robert F. Garry:** https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-remark[...]rt-of-the-international-team-studying-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2. The team also visited several laboratories in Wuhan and considered the possibility that the virus entered the human population as a result of a laboratory incident.*However, I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough.* Further data and studies will be needed toreach more robust conclusions. Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.We will keep you… **[2021-03-30T09:00:45] Kristian G. Andersen:** I guess he had to say that - and I can't really disagree with that statement. As long as we stick to the science - and not bs speculation. **[2021-03-30T09:09:39] Robert F. Garry:** Agree - this sounds like pressure from ---- the Biden Administration. **[2021-03-30T09:34:56] Robert F. Garry:** Amy: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00865-8"Plenty of animals were sold at the Huanan market. December 2019 records list poultry, badgers, rabbits, giant salamanders, two kinds of crocodiles and more. Chinese officials said that the market didn't sell live mammals or illegal wildlife, the report adds, but also references unverifiedmedia reports suggesting that it did, along with photos that Holmes published after a trip there in 2014, of animals such as live raccoon dogs." **[2021-03-30T09:35:09] Robert F. Garry:** Good job @Eddie Holmes **[2021-03-30T09:42:32] Robert F. Garry:** Jamie - not so much https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/other/who-report-on-covid-19-origin-inconclusive-calls-for-further-studies/vi-BB1f7WB8?ocid=BingNewsSearch **[2021-03-30T09:42:56] Robert F. Garry:** good lord **[2021-03-30T09:48:17] Kristian G. Andersen:** "Gag order on scientists". What KIND of COUNTRY would do something like that? Geez. **[2021-03-30T10:22:27] Robert F. Garry:** https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/world/asia/china-virus-WHO-report.html "Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said he was not convinced that a laboratory leak was extremely unlikely, after seeing a copy of the report.* *He said he agreed that it was highly plausible that the virus could have evolved naturally to spread to humans, but he did not see any reasoning in the report to dismiss the possibility of a lab escape." **[2021-03-30T10:23:18] Kristian G. Andersen:** Jim is on my shit list from now on. [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-03-30 at 10.23.00 AM.png] **[2021-03-30T10:23:32] Kristian G. Andersen:** Not exactly the conclusion of the report now, is it? **[2021-03-30T10:24:50] Robert F. Garry:** Meanwhile: [shared file(s): image.png] **[2021-03-30T10:47:34] Robert F. Garry:** Tedros reponding in part to this 52 min ago US and 13 other nations express "shared concerns" about WHO study on Covid-19 origins From CNN's Jennifer Hansler The governments of the United States, Australia, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom jointly expressed concern about the World Health Organization (WHO) study into the origins of Covid-19 in China and called for independent and fullytransparent evaluations with access to all relevant data in the future.> "We join in expressing shared concerns regarding the recent WHO-convened study in China, while at the same time reinforcing the… **[2021-03-30T10:47:36] Robert F. Garry:** https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-30-21/index.html **[2021-03-30T10:58:21] Kristian G. Andersen:** Different takes on the same statement.... https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-the-who-convened-covid-19-origins-study/#.YGNjEZa3zr0.twitter [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-03-30 at 10.56.58 AM.png, Screen Shot 2021-03-30 at 10.57.07 AM.png] **[2021-03-30T10:58:39] Robert F. Garry:** Parisite letter - seems to me that most of things requested are actually in the report. [shared file(s): COVID OPEN LETTER FINAL 030421 (1) (1).pdf]