
Covid did not escape from a Chinese lab - MilnerRoute
https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/21/all-in-it-together/#conspiracism
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gnusty_gnurc
This isn't very convincing. And until we have evidence of transmission, it's
hard to say anything about the origin of the virus other than: it came from a
bat and started spreading in Wuhan.

Personally, I'd guess it's more likely the Wuhan CDC[1] as opposed to the WIV.

[1]: [https://project-evidence.github.io/#(part._whcdc)](https://project-
evidence.github.io/#\(part._whcdc\))

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tzm
Inconclusive. It may be worth following this research group: [https://project-
evidence.github.io/](https://project-evidence.github.io/)

~~~
DiogenesKynikos
"Research group" is a generous description for them.

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pmiller2
Most versions of the "virus escaped from a lab" theory imply that it was
created as a bioweapon. We have really good evidence this is not true, with
the genetic sequence placing it within a family of coronaviruses that infect
bats.

What I don't understand is how you can believe this:

> China is an untrustworthy, paranoid, autocratic state with a history of
> deadly epidemiological coverups (SARS), and it mishandled and lied about the
> covid crisis early on.

and still not entertain the possibility that Chinese scientists were studying
the virus and there was a lab accident that China then covered up.

Even if it was a a biohazard level 4 lab, "Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) is the
highest level of biosafety precautions, and is appropriate for work with
agents that could easily be aerosol-transmitted within the laboratory and
cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which there are no available
vaccines or treatments." [0] It's not immediately clear to me that an unknown
virus found in bats would immediately be treated as a BSL-4 human pathogen,
but, even if it was, the possibility of an accident still exists. With this
virus having a relatively long incubation period, and the possibility of
asymptomatic transmission, it's entirely conceivable to me that such an
accidental escape of a naturally occuring virus could have occured.

TL;DR: China has covered up similar situations in the past, so it's not a big
leap to believe a naturally occuring virus could have escaped from a lab.

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[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level#Biosafety_leve...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level#Biosafety_level_4)

