Slack / Private Message Drop — page 818

[2021-05-15 17:41:33] [Kristian Andersen] That's the thing - there's a huge bias towards "something odd here" when things go wrong. But HKU1 is exactly the same - minus severe disease. I can guarantee you that if H1N1 had been worse, the lab leak theory of its origin would also not have gone away. [2021-05-15 17:42:11] [Eddie Holmes] Totally. I think the HKU1 story is hugely instructive. [2021-05-15 17:43:06] [Kristian Andersen] Eddie - would it be possible to get some data on wildlife markets in China from your contacts? Maybe that journo? I'm wondering if we could plot number or markets (or similar) across a map and show an association. Would be _hugely_ instructive, but I have no idea if Wuhan is special, or not, when it comes to these types of markets. [2021-05-15 17:43:32] [Eddie Holmes] I'll see what I can do. [2021-05-15 17:43:43] [Kristian Andersen] I swear, if we can nail the "Wuhan" part, our job will be done. [2021-05-15 17:45:46] [Eddie Holmes] Yes, need to show it is not special. [2021-05-15 18:46:37] [Kristian Andersen] Steve Goldstein also helping out on the document - good to have some postdoc power and he knows CoVs very very well and 'gets' it. [2021-05-15 18:55:03] [Eddie Holmes] Excellent. [2021-05-15 18:57:48] [Kristian Andersen] [thread - ID: 2021-05-15 18:57:48] ... and can I just say - we haven't been saying :point_down: enough. It really 'effing nails it. [shared file(s): Screen Shot 2021-05-15 at 6.56.53 PM.png] [2021-05-15 19:00:40] [Eddie Holmes] Love it! [2021-05-15 19:02:39] [Kristian Andersen] ... was just reading Relman's (unRealman?) email again to see if we missed anything (we didn't...) - love his conclusion: "But same thing with data in support of a natural spillover, revealing shipments of risky wildlife samples across China, into Wuhan markets, and around the world, as well as the incredible seen and unseen diversity of coronaviruses in nature. All circumstantial."