Author

Topic: Coronavirus Outbreak - page 115. (Read 29873 times)

legendary
Activity: 4690
Merit: 1276
March 21, 2020, 10:49:29 PM

It is a fact, purposely infecting test animals and selecting for the most virulent mutations would be INDISTINGUISHABLE from natural mutation, because it is nothing more than accelerating a natural process and selecting for desirable traits. There is no evidence that this has been excluded as a possibility, and any claims otherwise are assumptions, not based on observable empirical data.


That is exactly the method which has been used for over 100 years.  That is one of the reasons that most biological warfare labs call themselves things like 'animal disease research centers', and why they maintain large groups of animals.

Covid-19 is often over-hyped in the lethality feature, but it actually does seem to have a more valid, interesting, and unusual collection of features which are eye-opening and help is spread world-wide.  r0, incubation time, durability to remain active on surfaces, etc. We can limit the possibilities for the existence of 'SARS-cov-2' to two choices for the purposes of rational analysis here:

 - by-chance hop from a bat pool to another species (pangolin, snake, whatever) and from thence to humans.

 - artificial selection and refining in a research facility.

It is a known fact that there are research facilities doing these kinds of projects and using bat derived coronavirus.  And it is simply beyond doubt creating millions and millions of opportunities for 'gain of function' mutations to pop up (probably under various deliberately mutagenic conditions) and deliberate selection will arrive at a solution more quickly than the alternate.  The alternate being a very finite number of opportunities for a species jump to happen and for just the right individual pangolin to be captured and harvested for sale to humans while a number of very 'useful' mutations are happening along the way.

Given the above observations, which are simply not very contentious, it is perfect rational to consider the more likely scenerio as, well, more likely.  I would say more likely by many orders of magnitude, but that's getting into being a judgement thing.

One thing it is NOT is 'crazy' to consider the possibility that SARS-cov-2 came from something other than bat soup.  If anything, someone who cannot bring themselves to consider the possibility of lab or facility creation has got a problem related to intellectual conditioning by various corp/gov apparatuses.

legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
March 21, 2020, 10:14:01 PM
Sounds like you went out of your way to confirm your own bias. Unsurprisingly, you picked a completely bullshit-ridden article to do so.

A problem you have is that you always take statements like these at face value, so long as they back whatever conspiracy you are currently frothing over:

Quote
China bought off the head of Harvard’s chemistry department, you don’t think they could buy off run-of-the-mill research scientists scrambling for tenure and funding and publication?

Really? This statement is pure paranoid speculation. Its retard juice.

Quote
As our report mentions right at the start, scientists passed the H5N1 Bird Flu through a series of ferret hosts until it gained ACE2 affinity and then became incredibly virulent

That's not what happened! JFC. From the abstract cited in your article:

Quote
...We genetically modified A/H5N1 virus by site-directed mutagenesis and subsequent serial passage in ferrets. The genetically modified A/H5N1 virus acquired mutations during passage in ferrets, ultimately becoming airborne transmissible in ferrets.

"Site-directed mutagenesis" is NOT a natural process. Convenient how they left that tidbit out.

Regardless, this has nothing to do with covid-19. It is again pure speculation to be slurped down by conspiratards. Just because something _could_ happen, doesn't mean it _did_ happen. You always focus on "could" and never on "did."

Quote
This efficient solution is exactly the kind of thing that would be selected for after passage through ferrets in lab, which was already done to the Bird Flu that created a horrifically virulent strain.

"Would be" selected for -- not "was." Again, pure, baseless speculation.

Quote
Here, only one variant was found in all the initial infected humans, instead of the multiple variants that would be expected. But does fit what would happen if a virus that already had high affinity to the ACE2 receptor, which is the same in human and ferrets, leaked out of a lab.

This is plain incorrect. Here's a representation of all of the variants of covid-19:

[img  width=500]https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Takahiko_Koyama/publication/339461351/figure/fig3/AS:865732212572168@1583418052931/A-graphical-representation-of-variants-found-in-COVID-19-genomes-Variants-are-colored.png[/img]

There is zero evidence to back any of these statements up, but the author tells you what you want to hear and throws just enough scientific terms around to make it sound like they know what they're talking about, so you just assume they are truthful.

Its laughable to think this article takes down shit. I read the whole thing and it is too riddled with ridiculous assumptions, baseless claims and pseudoscientific bullshit to bother dissecting it any more than I already have. Sure, some anonymous dipshits with a blog know more about this issue than scientists with combined hundreds of years of experience working in this exact field, because those dipshits are telling you what you want to hear.

Get real.

My guess is that in 2 or 3 months this whole affair will be over with, fading into distant memory, but you will have somehow created enough plausible deniability in your own mind that covid-19 was STILL a "bio-weapon," even if a piss poor one at that, never having produced a shred of evidence to back your claim. Par for the course for just about every other ridiculous conspiratard turd you've ever laid in this section of the forum.

Here's the one part of your article I actually agree with:

"Maybe you shouldn’t blindly believe everything you read?"


It is a fact, purposely infecting test animals and selecting for the most virulent mutations would be INDISTINGUISHABLE from natural mutation, because it is nothing more than accelerating a natural process and selecting for desirable traits. There is no evidence that this has been excluded as a possibility, and any claims otherwise are assumptions, not based on observable empirical data.



Yeah roger that techy...as if you don't ever have a problem with anyone who has opinions that don't align with your own. Phukking hypocrite.


Here's an idea dude, why not try posting your rebuttal without being an obnoxious richard head? I dont think I've ever seen you do that.
Not sure if you enjoy or just don't care about being an arrogant prick on these boards, but you sure are good at it.
Apologies for replying to off topic with off topic.

The corona virus sucks.


If I disagree with some one's views, I debate the topic with them. I don't follow them around like a human version of Snopes and attack every source they link as invalid while never addressing the contents. I am perfectly capable of posting a logic based rebuttal while also being an obnoxious prick, thank you very much.
legendary
Activity: 4270
Merit: 4534
March 21, 2020, 09:19:55 PM
more hilarious moments on the BBC
.. so folks. you go to the news and hope to get the real facts.. and then they play a hidden game called
'red or white caption, which is true?'
legendary
Activity: 3388
Merit: 3514
born once atheist
March 21, 2020, 02:44:49 PM
I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.

TwittySeal is the human equivalent of the little banner Youtube puts under videos covering any information of consequence to make one last desperate plea to eat the corporate mainstream media's shit some more.

He has trouble with anyone who has opinions that don't align with his own speaking. Only sources about the Cornonavirus approved by him are allowed, otherwise he will put a disclaimer under every single post. He is doing his part. Volunteering at hospitals? No, sitting on his ass following people around on the internet wagging his finger digitally.

Yeah roger that techy...as if you don't ever have a problem with anyone who has opinions that don't align with your own. Phukking hypocrite.


Here's an idea dude, why not try posting your rebuttal without being an obnoxious richard head? I dont think I've ever seen you do that.
Not sure if you enjoy or just don't care about being an arrogant prick on these boards, but you sure are good at it.
Apologies for replying to off topic with off topic.

The corona virus sucks.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 2963
Man who stares at charts (and stars, too...)
March 21, 2020, 02:40:37 PM

I believe to remember vaguely that the Montan Union was basically initiated by the French to keep a close watch over the naughty Germans.
Keeping that in mind, I have an impression that this project somehow got a bit out of control.


Indeed. Mixing so many different cultures with at least half a dozen of different political histories, while trying to implement equal measures that cover mainly economic aspects was expected to fail. It's just a matter of time, or a matter of severity of the problem(s) the union will have to face. Similiar to the problems of globalization, only at a lower scale, imho.

Covid:
While the growth rate of infected cases in my country slowed down a little over the last days, people are getting confident that curfew will end in two or three weeks.
But it was sunny and warm outside, and the weather is changing now. Clouds, snowfall, low temperatures. Makes SARS-CoV-2 easier to spread. Today they tested the first case in my district to be positive, a small company where the guy worked was quarantined, but three of his collegues were not at home when the testing staff showed up at their door.
I also saw a lot of cars of people i know, parked in front of houses away from their homes. On the positive side, i found out that going fishing is allowed while you're alone and keep a distance to other anglers. I will be cleaning and servicing my rods and equipment tomorrow  Smiley
legendary
Activity: 2828
Merit: 1497
Join the world-leading crypto sportsbook NOW!
March 21, 2020, 12:58:58 PM
Amazon workers have been tested positive with the corona virus. Sad
So they were spreading it by handling those packages?
Something Cnbc just released 45 minutes ago about how they are changing their operations in the wake of this pandemic outbreak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW4B7s2ZdBg
Careful with you mail because thy are not testing their own employees in time.
I think trump administration should of had the priority on these workforce that are in potential contact with a large range of people.
They have said the covid-19 virus can live on cardboard surfaces up to 24 hours. Something that was mentioned on Dr.oz the last time I tuned in for a brief time while waiting for something to show up on netflix. Roll Eyes

I think it will probably get worse before it gets better,but thank good will get better
True. Some are showing thieves who are looting already in the SF bay area at a walgreens for meds. Embarrassed
https://twitter.com/Jared_William/status/1240741535357911040
jr. member
Activity: 43
Merit: 7
March 21, 2020, 12:25:52 PM
I think it will probably get worse before it gets better,but thank good will get better
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
March 21, 2020, 10:41:56 AM
While I agree it was likely a bio-weapon, and that study seems to make some very strangely worded conclusions for a scientific paper giving me the distinct impression it serves more political purposes than scientific ones. Even if the article is totally accurate, this is only something that excludes genetic engineering, not an accelerated forced mutation process done by raising many generations of the virus in a targeted environment. This would essentially be mostly indistinguishable from natural evolution.

Sorry to burst your bubble but you don't know more about this issue than the authors of this article, who work for the largest non-profit biomedical research organization in the United States.

An "accelerated forced mutation process"? Because you have no idea how little you understand about the issue, you will have no way of understanding why you are so incredibly wrong.

"This would essentially be mostly indistinguishable from natural evolution."

 Cheesy

First of all, there's an entire section of the article called "Evidence for natural evolution".

Quote
"These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rules out laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for SARS-CoV-2"

Quote
"They conclude that the virus is the product of natural evolution,"

"Accelerated forced mutation" is NOT the same thing as "natural evolution."

They're not saying "similar to natural evolution," they're saying it is natural evolution. But because you are so very very smart you know better than the people whose jobs it is to study the topic day and night, right?

They studied the issue. You did not. That is why I support their conclusion:

Quote
In one scenario, the virus evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host and then jumped to humans. This is how previous coronavirus outbreaks have emerged, with humans contracting the virus after direct exposure to civets (SARS) and camels (MERS)...

In the other proposed scenario, a non-pathogenic version of the virus jumped from an animal host into humans and then evolved to its current pathogenic state within the human population. For instance, some coronaviruses from pangolins, armadillo-like mammals found in Asia and Africa, have an RBD structure very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2...

over yours:

Quote
likely a bio-weapon

1,000x, every day of the week.

Oh, but let me guess, they are just political pawns used to facilitate a cover-up. And meanwhile you're completely unbiased and just presenting facts as you see them. Right.

Huh. Look what we have here: https://harvardtothebighouse.com/2020/03/19/china-owns-nature-magazines-ass-debunking-the-proximal-origin-of-sars-cov-2-claiming-covid-19-wasnt-from-a-lab/

Sounds a lot like what I was saying already.

"As our report mentions right at the start, scientists passed the H5N1 Bird Flu through a series of ferret hosts until it gained ACE2 affinity and then became incredibly virulent, which is what’s seen with COVID-19 since its affinity to ACE2 is orders of magnitude higher than SARS. That process would leave a genome that appears “natural” and not purposeful as well since it wouldn’t leave a genomic smoking gun and would simply appear to be the result of “natural” selection. However the addition of artificial generations produced by this process of passing through ferrets in the lab would create a lot of genetic distance from any possible relatives – precisely what is seen in COVID-19: it forms its own clade and appears very distant from all other bat coronaviruses. So this is lazy research, they’re either unaware of the Bird Flu study or are willfully ignoring it."
legendary
Activity: 4690
Merit: 1276
March 21, 2020, 10:15:40 AM
TwitchySeal is exactly right. ZeroHedge thrives off churning out factless clickbait for conspiratard incels like yourself, and RT is funded by the Russian government.

No argument against the contents? Attack the source. That way you never have to attempt to debate the facts of the matter and can remain totally ignorant while comforted in the belief in your righteousness.

I was blown away that anyone could be negative about an investigative report which showed a current job posting for a bio-engineer with experience genetically modifying bat coronavirus and put a link to the posting on the original web site.

Obviously the idea of what reporting is all about has shifted 180 degrees since I was in high school.

legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
March 21, 2020, 10:07:40 AM
TwitchySeal is exactly right. ZeroHedge thrives off churning out factless clickbait for conspiratard incels like yourself, and RT is funded by the Russian government.

No argument against the contents? Attack the source. That way you never have to attempt to debate the facts of the matter and can remain totally ignorant while comforted in the belief in your righteousness.
legendary
Activity: 1612
Merit: 1608
精神分析的爸
March 21, 2020, 10:01:19 AM
"Germany seizes medical supplies headed to Switzerland as Europe scrounges for resources to fight coronavirus"

https://www.rt.com/news/483582-germany--switzerland-medical-supplies-coronavirus/


...


I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.



While the quoted article is true. Germany has export restriction on masks and 3M Germany tried to ship some trucks full of masks to Switzerland.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, so good luck to them getting masks on the market.

Actually Germany also blocked several shipments from China to Switzerland in Hamburg based on their new restrictions. Not much to do with this EU free market fuckery, just stealing things basically. But for completeness sake: These shipments are said to be released meanwhile. But the unfriendly act of Germany has not been received too well in Switzerland, that could easily backfire later.

But it is heartwarming to watch from outside how solidary all the EU helps Italy in these times..



Agree. This is what the EU was founded for in the first place. But some members think they are more important than others, based on membership time and economy figures.
This is deadly for any alliance, but we'll see how the EU holds up while being put through the current challenges in the future. Already weakened by the immigration issues of the last decade, the EU may fail even more because of Covid19.

I believe to remember vaguely that the Montan Union was basically initiated by the French to keep a close watch over the naughty Germans.
Keeping that in mind, I have an impression that this project somehow got a bit out of control.



legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 2963
Man who stares at charts (and stars, too...)
March 21, 2020, 09:46:59 AM
"Germany seizes medical supplies headed to Switzerland as Europe scrounges for resources to fight coronavirus"

https://www.rt.com/news/483582-germany--switzerland-medical-supplies-coronavirus/


...


I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.



While the quoted article is true. Germany has export restriction on masks and 3M Germany tried to ship some trucks full of masks to Switzerland.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, so good luck to them getting masks on the market.

Actually Germany also blocked several shipments from China to Switzerland in Hamburg based on their new restrictions. Not much to do with this EU free market fuckery, just stealing things basically. But for completeness sake: These shipments are said to be released meanwhile. But the unfriendly act of Germany has not been received too well in Switzerland, that could easily backfire later.

But it is heartwarming to watch from outside how solidary all the EU helps Italy in these times..



Agree. This is what the EU was founded for in the first place. But some members think they are more important than others, based on membership time and economy figures.
This is deadly for any alliance, but we'll see how the EU holds up while being put through the current challenges in the future. Already weakened by the immigration issues of the last decade, the EU may fail even more because of Covid19.
legendary
Activity: 1612
Merit: 1608
精神分析的爸
March 21, 2020, 09:22:09 AM
"Germany seizes medical supplies headed to Switzerland as Europe scrounges for resources to fight coronavirus"

https://www.rt.com/news/483582-germany--switzerland-medical-supplies-coronavirus/


...


I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.



While the quoted article is true. Germany has export restriction on masks and 3M Germany tried to ship some trucks full of masks to Switzerland.
Switzerland is not part of the EU, so good luck to them getting masks on the market.

Actually Germany also blocked several shipments from China to Switzerland in Hamburg based on their new restrictions. Not much to do with this EU free market fuckery, just stealing things basically. But for completeness sake: These shipments are said to be released meanwhile. But the unfriendly act of Germany has not been received too well in Switzerland, that could easily backfire later.

But it is heartwarming to watch from outside how solidary all the EU helps Italy in these times..

legendary
Activity: 4690
Merit: 1276
March 21, 2020, 08:47:19 AM
I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.

TwittySeal is the human equivalent of the little banner Youtube puts under videos covering any information of consequence to make one last desperate plea to eat the corporate mainstream media's shit some more.

He has trouble with anyone who has opinions that don't align with his own speaking. Only sources about the Cornonavirus approved by him are allowed, otherwise he will put a disclaimer under every single post. He is doing his part. Volunteering at hospitals? No, sitting on his ass following people around on the internet wagging his finger digitally.

Man, you totally nailed it!

I think I read somewhere that it was discovered that the short-lived campaign of using 'trusted' truth entities (Snopes, the ADL, etc) for the flagging made it MORE likely that most people would believe a flagged story.  That would explain the short-lived nature of the experiment.

These people are well funded though.  It's not like they would curl up and go away.  The latest trial balloon is that the internet NEEDS to have ALL content checked by AI algorithms and/or certified humans before it can go from the keyboard to anyone else's screen.  This to eliminate the scourge of antisemitism.  The real-time nature of the internet was definitely a bug, and one which a lot of people are hard at work on trying to fix.

legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
March 21, 2020, 08:02:37 AM
I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.

TwittySeal is the human equivalent of the little banner Youtube puts under videos covering any information of consequence to make one last desperate plea to eat the corporate mainstream media's shit some more.

He has trouble with anyone who has opinions that don't align with his own speaking. Only sources about the Cornonavirus approved by him are allowed, otherwise he will put a disclaimer under every single post. He is doing his part. Volunteering at hospitals? No, sitting on his ass following people around on the internet wagging his finger digitally.
sr. member
Activity: 1190
Merit: 305
Pro financial, medical liberty
March 21, 2020, 07:18:36 AM

Some work from home fun
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18706
March 21, 2020, 05:12:08 AM
There is no cure to coronavirus, so if you test positive, doctors cannot start any kind of treatment for you. Likewise, if your symptoms are not serious, you should not be admitted to a hospital, and the question of if you should be admitted to a hospital does not change depending on if you have tested positive for coronavirus or not. Testing positive for coronavirus also does not change the direction to stay at home and use best practices period, but especially if you have symptoms.
The caveat to this is for healthcare staff and other people who are still required to work during this. If we can get accurate negative tests on these individuals, it means they can get back to work sooner rather than having to self isolate for 7-14 days (depending on their jurisdiction).

There is also the issue of the F1 score of tests.
In medical literature, you will rarely see the full F-score being discussed. They almost always talk about the sensitivity and specificity instead, and occasionally the positive and negative predictive values. Most of the tests we currently have for SARS-CoV-2 are highly specific, but not particularly sensitive. This essentially means if you test positive then you almost certainly have it, but testing negative doesn't necessarily mean you don't have it.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
March 21, 2020, 04:58:43 AM
I'm sure this has been discussed before but Trump's response to the coronavirus has been abysmal and I'm convinced he has shot himself in the foot for his reelection chances. The Trump administration's response to the coronavirus in the ENTIRE month of February was a travel from China and that was it. The entirety of the federal government's resources were dedicated to nothing while members of the Trump administration believed a mere travel would stop coronavirus. You fast forward two weeks later and you are facing exponential growth of the virus with the entire U.S. economy at virtual standstill. The U.S. can't even properly test people that show symptoms of coronavirus with people having fevers/coughs being turned away from tests at emergency rooms.

Trump's only pitch at reelection was the economy and the U.S. is going to face a 20 percent unemployment rate. The U.S. is at the worst economic recession since the Great Depression and Trump is partly to blame. You cannot isolate millions of people and expect the economy to recover. Even after coronavirus settles down, the effect of the economy is going to last for years and the unemployment rate isn't going to go down until at least a year after the virus subsides. 
The Chinese are Entirely to blame. China delenda est.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
March 21, 2020, 04:55:48 AM
"Germany seizes medical supplies headed to Switzerland as Europe scrounges for resources to fight coronavirus"

https://www.rt.com/news/483582-germany--switzerland-medical-supplies-coronavirus/


"Chart Of The Week: New COVID-19 Cases Per Day"

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/chart-week-new-covid-19-cases-day


""Critical Incident" - London Hospital Runs Out Of Beds Amid Virus Outbreak"

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/critical-incident-london-hospital-runs-out-beds-amid-virus-outbreak

I would be very careful taking either zerohedge or rt.com seriously.

zerohedge is a conspiracy theory/pseudo science blog and rt is Russian propaganda.
That's just not good enough. Debunk it if you think it's wrong.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 2963
Man who stares at charts (and stars, too...)
March 21, 2020, 04:38:17 AM
Switzerland is not part of the EU, so good luck to them getting masks on the market.

LOL, they have all the luck, resources, money they need.

True. But the're generally dependent on imports a lot. They cover about 10% of base food production by farming.
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