Slack / Private Message Drop — page 764

undisclosed ancestors (i.e., more proximal ancestors than RaTG13 and RmYN02) had already been discovered and were being studied in a laboratory--for example, one with the SARS-CoV-2 backbone and spike protein receptor-binding domain, and the other with the SARS-CoV-2 polybasic furin cleavage site. It would have been a logical next step to wonder about the properties of a recombinant virus and then create it in the laboratory. Alternatively, the complete SARS-CoV-2 sequence could have been recovered from a bat sample and viable virus resurrected from a synthetic genome to study it, before that virus accidentally escaped from the laboratory. The third scenario, seemingly much less likely, involves laboratory manipulation or release, with the clear intention of causing harm." [2021-05-08 06:32:29] [Robert Garry] Relman (2020) speculated that closer relatives of SARS-CoV-2 than RatG13 existed at WIV that have not been revealed to the world. However, if such a precursor existed at WIV it would have been logical to reveal its existence, instead of RaTG13, as that would have immediately confirmed the zoonotic nature of COVID-19. [2021-05-08 17:04:45] [Eddie Holmes] Well, it won't contain new data that's for sure. [2021-05-09 05:42:01] [Robert Garry] Angie vs Wade and Alina [Alina takes the bait]. https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1391005869161259011 [2021-05-09 06:08:55] [Robert Garry] They are ALL writing books - she's among the worst of the journos, but I add points for at least admitting she believes it's all cover-up and conspiracy. [shared file(s): image.png] [2021-05-09 06:58:55] [Kristian Andersen] [thread - ID: 2021-05-09 06:58:55] Oh Alina... I might jump in a little later. [2021-05-09 07:51:28] [Robert Garry] That would be good. Hit her hard - gloves off! We cut some of the stuff Angie alluded to from Holmes 2020 (virological): "Based on a lower substitution rate for SARS-CoV-2 compared to the earliest isolates of SARS-CoV, Zhan, Davidson and Chan (2020) concluded that it was possible that SARS-CoV-2 had been pre-adapted for human growth in the laboratory. However, there has also been limited sampling early in the COVID-19 outbreak, precluding observation of an early period of increased generation of variants followed by purifying selection (Park et al., 2015). It is not unusual for related viruses to have substitution rates that vary in the range seen by Zhan, Davidson and Chan (2020). For example: the rates of nucleotide substitution in the four serotypes of DENV--range from 4.55 × 10^-4 (DEN-1) to 11.58 × 10^-4 (DEN-3) substitutions per site, per year (Twidy, Holmes, Rambaut, 2003)." [2021-05-09 07:53:05] [Robert Garry] I have a feeling that Wade and RelBloom are going to get a lot of attention. [2021-05-09 11:18:36] [Robert Garry] [thread - ID: 2021-05-09 06:58:55] @Kristian Andersen good jump @Kristian Andersen - Characterization of hateful racist Wade BS is spot-on. [2021-05-09 11:19:17] [Kristian Andersen]