In the Telegraph today:
The messages that show Covid scientists secretly suspected a lab leak
Scientists who were instrumental in shutting down the Covid lab-leak theory admitted in private “we can’t rule it out”, newly released messages show.
In March 2020, a group of influential virologists published a paper in the journal Nature Medicine arguing that an animal spillover event probably caused the pandemic.
The article, known as “The Proximal Origins of Covid” [Link to the paper here. In fact its title refers to “Origin” in the singular- NS] concluded “we do not believe any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible” and was hugely persuasive in stifling debate globally.
But messages obtained and published by US senator Rand Paul show that behind the scenes the scientists voiced concerns that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had been carrying out experiments on coronaviruses at insufficient biosecurity levels.
The virus emerged eight miles from WIV laboratories and was seemingly pre-adapted to infect humans
and
The messages also reveal that authors were aware that Dr Shi – the lead bat virus scientist at WIV – was herself worried that Covid had been caused by a lab accident.
In September 2021, it emerged that before the pandemic Dr Shi had applied for a grant to insert a furin cleavage site (FCS) into bat coronaviruses – the very addition that made Covid-19 so infectious to humans.
Although the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency dismissed the grant because it was too dangerous, Slack messages showed that scientists feared the work had gone ahead anyway.
Prof Andrew Rambaut of Edinburgh University wrote that “it isn’t beyond plausibility that someone went ahead and tried some of this stuff”, adding, “We just need to re-convince ourself it is coincidence.”
You may be saying, “I’ve read Viral. This is not news to me”. The news is that it is being reported in a major “quality” British newspaper.
Here is what the Telegraph was saying about the “Proximal Origin” paper on 1st May 2020:
The study that proves conspiracy theorists wrong – coronavirus came from nature
Covid-19 is not a “laboratory construct” but emerged as a result of natural evolution, according to a report which demolishes conspiracy theories about the origins of the disease.
The virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of December and has since spread rapidly across the globe, with more than three million people worldwide now infected.
But fear and misinformation have escalated alongside the pandemic, with the World Health Organization warning that the globe is fighting an “infodemic” as well as an epidemic.
One common myth has been that the new virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was originally made in a laboratory. But in a study, published in Nature Medicine journal, researchers analysed the genome sequence of the coronavirus and found strong evidence it evolved naturally, probably from a bat or a pangolin.
Sarah Newey has more details on the evidence that debunks President Trump’s latest theory.
Nice touch in linking the thing you don’t want people to take seriously to Trump, though that trick no longer works as well as it once did.
There is no shame in having been wrong, so long as you then work sincerely to put things right. In today’s article the Telegraph goes some way to atone for its past errors. Let’s see how the rest of the British media covers this story. Let’s see if the rest of the British media covers this story.
The establishment scientists, such as Dr Fauci and Peter Daszak of the EcoHealth Alliance and World Health Organization, always knew that Covid came from the Wuhan lab – whether it was a deliberate release or a “leak” I do not know, but they always knew that is where it came from – they covered up for their People’s Republic of China friends, and for THEMSELVES (people such as Peter Daszak backed the gain of function research which created the disease).
They were not very concerned for their own lives, after all they also always knew that Covid, if caught early, could be treated (whilst, at the same time, telling the general public that there was no early treatment – and people should do nothing whilst the disease got worse and worse in their system) – so they had no reason NOT to cover up their involvement in its creation.
The international establishment are mass murderers – for if it is not mass murder to create a disease which then “leaks” (and which you tell people that travel from China should NOT be cut off – remember Dr Fauci and co were AGAINST any restriction on travel from China – and the PRC authorities kept the international airport near Wuhan open and encouraged travel all over the world – whilst, at the same time, preventing people from Wuhan visiting other parts of China), it would seem to be mass murder to know that a disease can be treated if caught early – yet to tell the public (again and again) that there was no effective early treatment for Covid.
Why did they do it?
Well, yes, there was the political agenda to push world “governance” (the, medically useless, “lockdowns” and so on) and to get people to have the injections – but there was another reason.
They did it because-they-could – they knew that whatever-they-did they would never be punished – indeed it would be honest doctors and honest medical scientists, who were saving-lives, who would be punished.
They did it because they felt like doing it – as in the line from a Johnny Cash song “I killed a man in Reno – just to watch him die”.
In the Ballad of Folsom Prison the line may run “I shot a man in Reno – just to watch him die”.
But the establishment scientists do not shoot people – they are too gutless for that, they find other ways to kill.
In Britain it turned out that several members of “SAGE” were also members of Marxist groups – I remember a lady scientist from “SAGE” (who was also a member of a Communist group) saying that everyone in the group agreed with her “Social Justice” opinions.
I believe her.
Here’s an interesting question: when is Nature going to withdraw the paper?
Barbarus – good question.
One silver lining: the scientists apparently got it somewhat right early on, namely in thinking it might have been a lab leak. Problem is they then chose to lie about it.
So, the lesson? Trust the Science, but not the scientists.
There are so many things that are still commonly believed about Covid that are plainly not true that the lesson is that nobody is ever held accountable for their untruths.
Here are the plain and obvious results: of course it came from a lab leak, of course masks don’t work, of course hand washing didn’t help, of course vaccinating children was stupid, and of course the vaccines were harmful to a lot of people, most predominantly the people who gained no benefit from them.
The core algorithm of science is: propose a hypothesis -> test the hypothesis -> review the results -> loop back with a new hypothesis. If we are not looking at the results and modifying our hypothesis, we are not doing science.
And if our public science establishment is not doing science and not communicating that science to the general public they are worse than useless.
I mean let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater — of course Covid was a dangerous virus that injured and killed a LOT of people. But that doesn’t mean the public health measures were good. In fact, doing bad, ineffective or damaging health measures are considerably worse than doing nothing. And, given that the general public does not really know just how much they were mislead, we are set up for a repeat performance any day now.
Old military wisdom:
“Once is happenstance,
Twice is “coincidence”,
Three times is ENEMY ACTION”.
Said by Auric Goldfinger.
The man with the Midas touch.
What’s the difference between Las Vegas and Wuhan? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
We must remember the great number of honest doctors and medical scientists – who told the truth and saved lives, and were PUNISHED for doing so.
I’m going to dissent on “of course hand washing didn’t help.” Hand washing to inhibit the spread of infections goes back to Dr. Semmelweis. It’s a reasonable measure against the usual annual colds and flu, and Covid was functionally no more than a variant of those usual colds & flu.
Yes, most of the “public health measures” – the vast majority of them – were useless or actively counterproductive. Assuming, that is, that the goal is to limit the spread of the disease. But since the goal was to use “Covid!” as a pretext to polish tyrant-boners and impose a glorious new fundamentally transformed socialist normal, then those measures worked all too well.
@Deep Lurker
I’m going to dissent on “of course hand washing didn’t help.”
I meant with respect to Covid. There is no data to support the idea that Covid transmission was reduced by the massive hand washing infrastructure that was installed.
But, FWIW, the treatment of Semmelweis is one of the greatest disgraces of the whole scientific enterprise. The arrogance of the medical community toward him surely lead unnecessarily to the painful and horrible deaths of hundreds of thousands of women and new borns.
Deep Lurker – and control was indeed the objective (of the Marxists of “SAGE” and other such).
Fraser Orr – yes Dr Semmelweis was indeed treated disgracefully by the medical establishment in the 19th century.
And now history has repeated itself – with doctors and medical scientists who stressed the Early Treatment of Covid, being savagely mocked and abused.
There was a “good” reason for this – if the establishment admitted that, if caught early, Covid could be successfully treated – the justification for their agenda (of social control – and for the injections) would have collapsed.