Slack / Private Message Drop — page 575

[2021-03-08 07:14:53] [Robert Garry] You know Alina - if you think WHO, NIH (Tony Fauci/Francis Collins) and Eddie Holmes/Kristian Andersen are the BAD GUYS, then maybe biology is not the right gig for you. [2021-03-08 12:40:57] [Eddie Holmes] Simone is a straight reporter. I don't think she believes lab escape. [2021-03-08 13:09:34] [Robert Garry] "Others argue it is possible there were viruses in the lab, or handled during research, that were not publicly known." This is it in a nutshell - good on Simone for writing it. The fact that the virus emerged in Wuhan are what Alina and her crowd have left PLUS the theories that WIV had SARS-CoV-2 or something very close from *nature* before the pandemic. [2021-03-08 13:18:54] [Robert Garry] Billy aka Kevin has written a poem about @Kristian Andersen. He and Nicholson Baker should write something together. [shared file(s): image.png] [2021-03-08 13:19:05] [Kristian Andersen] Andrew's tweet is spot on for that exact scenario [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-03-08 at 1.18.39 PM.png] [2021-03-08 13:19:47] [Kristian Andersen] I like that poem - clever. I should frame it. Thanks Billy. [2021-03-08 13:27:21] [Eddie Holmes] Such great work from Billy. I'm just surprised he can't get financed. [2021-03-08 13:31:00] [Kristian Andersen] Maybe he should try selling poetry on Amazon - happy to provide him with material. [2021-03-08 13:51:32] [Eddie Holmes] Given how cock obsessed Billy is it's not hard to imagine how microscopic his own member must be. I also suspect it requires its own gain of function. [2021-03-08 14:16:41] [Andrew Rambaut] I was going to ask - how hard is it to collect samples with cultureable viruses? From what I am hearing it is difficult to culture SARS-CoV-2 from many samples so I would imagine sampling bats (say) you would be just hoping for RNA rather than infectious virus. [2021-03-08 14:45:20] [Robert Garry] Yes - hard to culture from natural samples. First issue is you are getting animals that are likely at different stages in infections - early, late, persistent, recovering - who knows? We don't know how long viremia lasts in Mastomys with Lassa virus. Seems much lower than in humans. Rabies - long term infections, bats carry for a loooong time eventually some [all?] get sick. For SC2 from humans unless the Ct values are really low say low 20s it's very difficult. Not to say that there is not infectious virus there and that under the right circumstance (inhaling it directly into the nasal passages or lungs even a fairly low may be all it takes. I'm just guessing but unlikely bats would