So it’s been two years and the majority of the US still pushes Wuhan as the origin of the pandemic.

What is the counter-narrative/truth to this position ? Any evidence come up in the last couple of years? Thank you.

  • knfrmity
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    2 years ago

    I don’t think we’ll ever find out, for two big reasons. One, it happened so long ago now that unless some sort of incontrovertible contemporary evidence is released there will always be uncertainty. Two, there are so many powerful interests at play with regards to funding gain of function and bioweapons research that admitting in one way or another that Covid-19 was made in a lab would have the potential to end that kind of research.

    One interesting thing I recently read (aside from the bits Jeffrey Sachs is talking about) is that a whole bunch of US states could have tested waste water samples for the virus, samples taken just before Covid-19 officially came to the US. Only two states have done so, and it was even implied (IIRC) that some samples have been destroyed. Sachs also mentioned in at least one interview that in the US NIH supported labs like in Wuhan, there’s basically no PPE required for working on samples of corona viruses, even very contagious ones like Covid-19.

  • chinawatcherwatcher
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    2 years ago

    the russian MoD recently came out with a report suggesting that the virus could be american-made, and that USAID could have been involved in distribution: https://telegra.ph/Briefing-by-Lieutenant-General-Igor-Kirillov-Head-of-NuclearBiological-and-Chemical-Protection-Troops-of-the-Russian-Armed-Force-08-04

    when taking into account US covid research, fort detrick, weird leak in summer 2019 and event 201 it’s certainly all very plausible. if russia thinks there is enough evidence from US biolabs in ukraine they will probably make a case for it at the UN

  • DankZedong A
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    2 years ago

    So far, not that I know of.

    A few days ago I heard on the radio that the WHO has found that it actually did come from a wet market in Wuhan, but googling for the news is not giving me any recent results, so that’s weird.

    All it gives me is that the origin is more complicated than thought and that it needs further research.

      • DankZedong A
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        2 years ago

        Oh yeah it’s entirely possible. Diseases regularly originate in places with lots of animals cramped together, especially here in The Netherlands and Belgium. But the media goes on a run with it. It is portraying China as some barbaric country because of it. And all wet markets should be banned.

        Funny how that talk is never present when a bird flu pops up in one of our chicken farms. These farms never have to disappear somehow.

        • aworldtowin@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          Never will they mention things like how in the US (not allowed in Europe as far as I know) diseases are purposefully spread among farm animals to boost profit. For example they will infect chickens with diseases that increase egg production. Or how our insane use of antibiotics on farm animals has pretty much irreversibly put us on a path into a post antibiotic era of superbugs immune to them- also the fault of the US. Just another way the insane rapacious oligarchs in the US will bring the rest of the world down with them.

  • frippa@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    I think we will discover it only after the revolution, just as lenin discovered of the treaty of london only after checking Russiam state archives in 1917, and after revealing it to the public there was a biiig scandal, so yes i think when we will check the US state archives after the revolution we will find out

      • frippa@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        it was, in fact the bolsheviks and not lenin (translated from italian wikipedia with deepl bcs im lazy) “The London Pact remained secret until its unexpected publication in late 1917 by the Bolsheviks, who had just come to power following the Russian Revolution. The revolutionary government, in fact, gave immediate and maximum publicity to the secret diplomatic pacts unearthed in the czarist archives. The publication of the pact had wide international resonance and caused embarrassment to the signatory powers, raising public disquiet and undermining the method of “secret diplomacy” that had been followed for decades by the European powers.” i heard it was Lenin but probably it was just a mistake

  • RateAndStevolution
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    2 years ago

    Based on the genetics found so far it wasn’t from a lab. If it were we would expect to see larger changes from the wild virus which would make it more contagious, because we aren’t great at doing super small controlled changes in viruses, and there wouldn’t be a great way to predict that behavior unless we stuck the exact same genetics that let the common cold recognize human cells into a coronavirus. Which would also be traceable to editing.

    It’s reasonable to say it originated in SE Asia based on the similarities that 19 has to other strains of coronavirus. There’s still uncertainty about where exactly it could have come from. Large parts of Southern China, Vietnam, Laos and other countries are mountainous and heavily forested. This makes them hard to explore and sample well. Meanwhile the people living in these areas may have come into contact with the virus at any point, and it could spread from there while never being well documented due to the remoteness in some areas. China’s development makes it more likely it was found easier, and the most similar strains have been found in Laos, so that may well be the origin, but unless there’s better sampling we’re not likely to ever find out.

    China investing in the B&R should help make it less and more likely in different ways. The access to facilities they are providing make it more likely to be caught earlier. However, because people are encroaching on natural environments contact with novel viruses are more likely to occur.

  • Dochyo@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    I heard at some point they’d found some pre-pandemic evidence of it in Italy. But it seems like it’s up in the air and it’s never coming back down.

  • quality_fun
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    2 years ago

    it isn’t unlikely that it was first spread when a bat bit someone, which has happened plenty of times before.

  • ThatCakeThough
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    2 years ago

    I doubt the virus was made in lab but it’s possible it might’ve been weaponized by the U.S

  • busesftw
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    2 years ago

    I don’t have a narrative to peddle here, but not consuming wild animals is something Chinese law enforcement should have worked on better.

    • mylifeforaiur
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      2 years ago

      The wild animal hypothesis was never confirmed. Also worth noting that Americans eat wild animals as well; deer, gators, snakes, birds, etc. Try to understand when the narrative you’ve been fed is designed to prey on racism.

      • busesftw
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        2 years ago

        Okay, sorry, I just thought the “wet markets” shutting down shops and being admitted by the Chinese government was enough proof for me. But sorry if I hurt your sentiments. News of the Chinese government crackdown AFTER the COVID-19 infection, including official Chinese media sources

        Will scientific government not be a part of scientific socialism, comrades? CITES Convention names many of the species named to be consumed there, per the scientific community’s understanding of what animals can be traded and to which establishments (mostly zoos, sanctuaries, etc.).

        It is what inspired the crackdown that the Chinese sources have reported on.

        • loathsome dongeaterA
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          2 years ago

          While it would be good to have better regulation and supervision of wet markets, singling them out is myopic. Industrial cultivation of animals is a much more potent breeding ground for pathogens. A ton of animals living tightly packed is a great for pathogens since there is no shortage of hosts for them to jump to. In face disease outbreaks in factory farms are not uncommon, and entire batches of animals have to slaughtered when it happens.

          I’m not sure how important wet markets were for COVID and in what way. A lot of different people say a lot of different things and it’s easy to find sources that support whatever viewpoint you prefer. But focusing on wet markets diverts attention from two important points. First is the factory farming that I mentioned above. Second os that after the outbreak of covid, the wealthiest countries in the world adopted policies that essentially let their workforce die of covid while installing a vaccine apartheid and prevent poorer countries from accessing vaccines.

          It’s also racist because people decide what food is considered normal based on western preferences and if you eat something else you are a disgusting freak.

          • busesftw
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            2 years ago

            It’s not illegal to medicate against the pathogens in industrialised animal rearing because in those places it is easier to contain the spread due to the implication of an industry, that has it’s own enforcement mechanisms, and often times, is based on the scaling up of scientific practices itself, but with wet markets that have to be cracked down upon, the issue is there are many people eating from what has been scientifically discovered to be likely to give you a contagious disease. Something that I also find has it’s own literature in international law, and for good reason.

            If it’s risky enough to demand border controls since ages (see history of epidemics), the inherent problem doesn’t become the industrialisation of race-specific preferences (if you may argue that wet markets are an industry), but the common good of humanity.

          • whoami
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            2 years ago

            actually, I remember just after covid started to spread reading an article about industrial agriculture (especially have animals penned in on top of each other in horrible conditions) and how that leads to the spread of diseases like covid.