Coronavirus Research in Wuhan

[Syne]

Leftists always have notoriously short memories. If you don't remember it, it never happened, right?

Which is why they are always pursuing bad policies they are "doomed to repeat."

[Yazata]

The United States House of Representatives has issued its "After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward”, highly detailed and 557 pages long.

Its final conclusions include many ideas that were once labeled "misinformation" and got people labeled "conspiracy theorists", "science deniers", excluded from social media and often fired from their jobs.

Those conclusions include:

***The possibility that the COVID-19 virus emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident is not a conspiracy theory.

***EcoHealth Alliance, Inc., and Dr. Peter Daszak should never again receive U.S. taxpayer dollars.

***Scientific messaging must be clear and concise, backed by evidentiary support, and come from trusted messengers, such as front-line doctors treating patients.

***Public health officials must work to regain Americans' trust; Americans want to be educated, not indoctrinated.

***Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo engaged in medical malpractice and publicly covered up the total number of nursing home fatalities in New York.

***The U.S. National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

***The Chinese government, agencies within the U.S. Government, and some members of the international scientific community sought to cover-up facts concerning the origins of the pandemic.

***Operation Warp Speed was a tremendous success and a model to build upon in the future. The vaccines, which are now probably better characterized as therapeutics, undoubtedly saved millions of lives by diminishing likelihood of severe disease and death.

***Rampant fraud, waste, and abuse plagued the COVID-19 pandemic response.

***Pandemic-era school closures will have enduring impact on generations of America’s children and these closures were enabled by groups meant to serve those children.

***The Constitution cannot be suspended in times of crisis and restrictions on freedoms sow distrust in public health.

***The prescription cannot be worse than the disease, such as strict and overly broad lockdowns that led to predictable anguish and avoidable consequences.

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...REPORT.pdf

nsNS

[confused2]

EcoHealth Alliance, Inc., and Dr. Peter Daszak should never again receive U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Not even a rebuke?

[Yazata]

This just came out

[Image: GiK9DedWkAAKPid?format=png&name=large]

It's in no way surprising. It was pretty obvious years ago, as the contents of this thread illustrate. Here's a 2023 story.

I wonder when Steven Novella and the editors of Nature will issue an apology to those they dismissed as conspiracy theorists.

[Image: FyhFM29akAEWQih?format=png&name=large]

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In related news, Ecohealth Alliance terminated its President Peter Daszak on January 6. Then on January 17 the US Department of Health and Human Services announced that both Ecohealth and Daszak have been 'disbarred' from receiving any US government grants for five years. (Which, if they were central not only in unleashing covid on the world, but also in trying to engineer the coverup of the lab leak theory, is an exceedingly light sentence.)

https://oversight.house.gov/release/brea...rongdoing/

[Yazata]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true...-covid-19/

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1. The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.

2. Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events.

3. Wuhan is home to China’s foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering and organism supercharging) at inadequate biosafety levels.

4. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.

5. By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.

PROXIMAL ORIGIN PUBLICATION:

“The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated in nature.

GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH:

A lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely the origin of COVID-19. Current government mechanisms for overseeing this dangerous gain-of-function research are incomplete, severely convoluted, and lack global applicability.

ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE INC. (ECOHEALTH):

EcoHealth — under the leadership of Dr. Peter Daszak — used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. After the Select Subcommittee released evidence of EcoHealth violating the terms of its National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) commenced official debarment proceedings and suspended all funding to EcoHealth.

New evidence also shows that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into EcoHealth’s pandemic-era activities.

NIH FAILURES:

NIH’s procedures for funding and overseeing potentially dangerous research are deficient, unreliable, and pose a serious threat to both public health and national security. Further, NIH fostered an environment that promoted evading federal record keeping laws — as seen through the actions of Dr. David Morens and “FOIA Lady” Marge Moore.

HHS OBSTRUCTION:

The Biden Administration’s HHS engaged in a multi-year campaign of delay, confusion, and non-responsiveness in an attempt to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation and hide evidence that could incriminate or embarrass senior public health officials. It appears that HHS even intentionally under-resourced its component that responds to legislative oversight requests.

ECOHEALTH OBSTRUCTION:

EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation by providing publicly available information, instructing his staff to reduce the scope and pace of productions, and doctoring documents before releasing them to the public. Further, Dr. Daszak provided false statements to Congress.

DR. DAVID MORENS:

Dr. Fauci’s Senior Advisor, Dr. David Morens, deliberately obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation, likely lied to Congress on multiple occasions, unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records, and shared nonpublic information about NIH grant processes with EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak.

NEW YORK OBSTRUCTION:

New York’s Executive Chamber — led presently by Governor Kathy Hochul — redacted documents, offered numerous illegitimate privilege claims, and withheld thousands of documents without an apparent legal basis to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into former Governor Cuomo’s pandemic-era failures.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO):

The WHO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was an abject failure because it caved to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party and placed China’s political interests ahead of its international duties. Further, the WHO’s newest effort to solve the problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic — via a “Pandemic Treaty” — may harm the United States.

SOCIAL DISTANCING:

The “6 feet apart” social distancing recommendation — which shut down schools and small business across the country — was arbitrary and not based on science. During closed door testimony, Dr. Fauci testified that the guidance “sort of just appeared.”

MASK MANDATES:

There was no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19. Public health officials flipped-flopped on the efficacy of masks without providing Americans scientific data — causing a massive uptick in public distrust.

LOCKDOWNS:

Prolonged lockdowns caused immeasurable harm to not only the American economy, but also to the mental and physical health of Americans, with a particularly negative effect on younger citizens. Rather than prioritizing the protection of the most vulnerable populations, federal and state government policies forced millions of Americans to forgo crucial elements of a healthy and financially sound life.

NEW YORK PANDEMIC FAILURES:

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s March 25 Order — which forced nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients — “was medical malpractice.” Evidence shows that Mr. Cuomo and his Administration worked to cover up the tragic aftermath of their policy decisions in an apparent effort to shield themselves from accountability.

COVID-19 MISINFORMATION:

Public health officials often misled the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency. Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people’s health decisions.

When those efforts failed, the Biden Administration resorted to “outright censorship—coercing and colluding with the world’s largest social media companies to censor all COVID-19-related dissent.”

[confused2]

Including matters of opinion in a rant makes on wonder how many of the 'facts' are more opinion than fact.

SOCIAL DISTANCING:
The “6 feet apart” social distancing recommendation

How long is a bed? - about 6 feet. Congratulations - you know what 6 feet looks like. Standing half the length of a bed apart - pretty darn close. 6 feet gives you time and space to take evasive action .. 6 feet is good. It's difficult to intimidate people from 6 feet away .. not suggesting that's important (to me).

MASK MANDATES:
There was no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19.

Many of the more arrogant types don't cover their nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing. It isn't like they've heard of airborne infection and even if they had they're only spreading - what happens to other people is their problem. Just a guess - the people who objected to masks are the ones who most needed to wear them.

COVID-19 MISINFORMATION:
..Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments..

This is about Ivermectin - the Chosen One's chosen remedy. It would have been so easy to have agreed with Trump and they just couldn't do it.

[Syne]

Fauci testified that social distancing was not based in science, and it caused a lot of economic and child development harm.
Apparently some are unaware that things like allergies are not contagious. But during Covid, I never heard anyone against covering your mouth for coughs or sneezes (which are often so forceful they are aerosolized out the sides of any mask). Again, masking caused development harm to children and often abetted actual criminals.

Banning Monoclonal Antibody Therapies for COVID-19 Using In Vitro Data
In summary, we are concerned that the FDA has banned medications based only on in vitro data without evidence of clinical harm.
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9897114/

[confused2]

Apparently some are unaware that what appears to be arrogance and a total lack of consideration for others is very often exactly that.
In the UK we lived with the 'R' number, the number of hospital beds free + any information about new variants arriving. With nothing other than social distancing, masks and lock-downs to slow the spread of infections there was no politics involved .. we just did what we had to to ensure there were hospital beds available when/if required.
I get the impression Americans didn't have much information - hence the spread of conspiracy theories and accusations of poor judgement - am I right that you had very little information at the time?

Edit .. for the context challenged .. the context is the Covid epidemic.

[Syne]

Brits are just sheep. They do as they're told. Good little Brits.
UK had more infections per million than US: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

[stryder]

Brits are just sheep. They do as they're told. Good little Brits.

We tend to fact check a bit more, so I wouldn't say we're sheep. We just Keep Calm and Carry on.

UK had more infections per million than US: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

The method of recording and detection of infection was done differently per country (Some would record false positives), which means it's difficult to compare results between countries without taking that into consideration. The death count would likely be a better comparison per million.

US: 10.37 per Million
UK: 4.48 per Million (and that was with an overloaded, overworked NHS)

US population: 340 Million
UK population: 68 Million

The UK was higher than it should of been in relationship to numbers of people, considering the US is 5 times the population, it means the death count should of been around one fifth their amount, e.g. 2.074

However you have to take into consideration:

US land Area: 3,618,780 sq mi
UK land Area: 94,354 sq mi

US avg Population per sq mi: 94 people
UK avg Population per sq mi: 721 people

Thats 7.67 times the number of avg population per sq mi. Higher population density increases the potential transmission level since thats more people in a given area.

To be honest the UK death count should have been a lot higher, or the US a lot less.

(*Figures used are approximates taking from a straight forwards keyword search on the subject matter)