More information is trickling in about covid as a manufactured virus.
I'm curious what sort of global response is appropriate if it is proven that China unleashed this virus on the world, by intent or by accident, knowing full well the implications and said nothing. Of most concern is the fact that China may have known exactly what would happen globally, yet did not stop all travel out of China in early days.
The rest of the world was sitting around, posturing with political correctness, and claiming that virus transmission could be prevented by politely asking international visitors whether they might be sick. Idiotic
scientists were claiming that people from China had special genes or blood type that caused them to get sick, that non-Asians were immune.
If China had the answers early on and said nothing, that's serious. If they provided answers and the global community arrogantly believed they could manage what China could not, that's different.
"Much of the public discussion has focused on circumstantial evidence: mysterious illnesses in late 2019; the lab’s work intentionally supercharging viruses to increase lethality (known as “gain of function” research). The Chinese Communist Party has been reluctant to release relevant information. Reports based on U.S. intelligence have suggested the lab collaborated on projects with the Chinese military.
But the most compelling reason to favor the lab leak hypothesis is firmly based in science. In particular, consider the genetic fingerprint of CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for the disease Covid-19.
In gain-of-function research, a microbiologist can increase the lethality of a coronavirus enormously by splicing a special sequence into its genome at a prime location. Doing this leaves no trace of manipulation. But it alters the virus spike protein, rendering it easier for the virus to inject genetic material into the victim cell. Since 1992 there have been at least 11 separate experiments adding a special sequence to the same location. The end result has always been supercharged viruses."
Opinion | The Science Suggests a Wuhan Lab Leak
