2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic (Vaccination 2021 Edition)

[Agema]

1) Not for anything other than sample work. I especially wouldn't use them for some stuff in even labs
2) Unless the bat is literally unconscious and you know they're 100% free of any transmissible disease, No it's not.

I perhaps have an advantage here because I have passed training, an official government licence and 20 years experience in working with animals in a laboratory setting.

The short answer is that it's far more flexible than that; lab animals may have diseases and workers just suck up the risk that they might contact something through bites, contact with urine/faeces, inhalation, etc. The protection needed relates to the risk, and the task that the worker need to do (e.g. you can't do a surgery in thick gloves). Lab animals are also often kept having had a load of dangerous diseases eradicated from the population, which may also be the case in that bat.

3) Not really. That's the working theory but it's not entirely known and may not ever be truly known. That's also based on the information the CCP provided about the Wuhan lab and it's work so how much do you believe the CCP?

The RNA sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is easily accessible (hey, and we've all got our own samples of it now) and analysis is not consistent with it being man-made, or that sufficient changes between the closest bat and human variants could be explained by direct bat-human transmission.

I think Nick Calandra said he didn't want more conspiracy theories on this forum. I'm guessing that includes ones against China.

4) If it's transmissible by simple droplet expulsion then an exposed wound would be a lovely opportunity for an infection

No. If you have a airborne virus that is infectious because it binds onto proteins on cells of the lining of the lungs, dumping into directly into the bloodstream may in fact make it useless, because it will not reach the correct target cells to replicate.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

I perhaps have an advantage here because I have passed training, an official government licence and 20 years experience in working with animals in a laboratory setting.

The short answer is that it's far more flexible than that; lab animals may have diseases and workers just suck up the risk that they might contact something through bites, contact with urine/faeces, inhalation, etc. The protection needed relates to the risk, and the task that the worker need to do (e.g. you can't do a surgery in thick gloves). Lab animals are also often kept having had a load of dangerous diseases eradicated from the population, which may also be the case in that bat.



The RNA sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is easily accessible (hey, and we've all got our own samples of it now) and analysis is not consistent with it being man-made, or that sufficient changes between the closest bat and human variants could be explained by direct bat-human transmission.

I think Nick Calandra said he didn't want more conspiracy theories on this forum. I'm guessing that includes ones against China.



No. If you have a airborne virus that is infectious because it binds onto proteins on cells of the lining of the lungs, dumping into directly into the bloodstream may in fact make it useless, because it will not reach the correct target cells to replicate.

Nick said he didn't want specific stuff discussed. I'd also hope he's very much not that much of a fan of China lol

It could be useless but then it can also infect via contact with the eyes

Can you catch coronavirus through your eyes? | Optimax

Coronavirus: it’s all we’re seeing on the news, hearing about from people around us, and worrying about as we rush to the shops to stock up on 48 rolls of toilet paper. It can feel a bit overwhelming, especially as travel bans come into place...

www.optimax.co.uk

It's not exactly shown to be fully useless.

Also as for Surgery, well generally I'd imagine you'd want the animal out cold for such things lol or mostly out cold.

 

[Kwak]

US ‘proof’ COVID leaked from Wuhan lab

The US claims it has explosive new evidence that proves COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan research lab.

www.news.com.au

Mr Pompeo called on the WHO to investigate the lab in question, just one day after a team from the organisation landed in Wuhan.

The team is set to look into the ‘wet market’ originally linked to early infections, but there are believed to be no plans to investigate whether the virus accidentally escaped from the lab.

He said: “Beijing continues to withhold vital information that scientists need to protect the world from this deadly virus, and the next one.”

He suggested it was a natural virus that had accidentally escaped the lab, rather than it been a man-made virus that was purposelessly released.

A briefing document from the State Department read: “Accidental infections in labs have caused several previous virus outbreaks in China and elsewhere, including a 2004 SARS outbreak in Beijing that infected nine people, killing one.”


The report also suggests that researchers there had been working with a bat coronavirus known as RaTG13, that is 96.2 per cent similar genetically to the virus that causes COVID.

Mr Pompeo also claimed that the lab has military links.

“The WIV has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017,” he added.

He wants Beijing to allow the WHO research team access to the Wuhan lab.

The State Department said: “WHO investigators must have access to the records of the WIV’s work on bat and other coronaviruses before the COVID-19 outbreak.

“As part of a thorough inquiry, they must have a full accounting of why the WIV altered and then removed online records of its work with RaTG13 and other viruses.”

It comes after online data related to the lab was deleted - sparking fresh accusations of a cover-up by the Chinese government.

Hundreds of pages of information connected to studies carried out by the top-secret Wuhan Institute of Virology have been wiped alongside key data from a top virologist nicknamed “Batwoman”.

More than 300 studies published by the National Natural Science Foundation of China - including investigations into diseases that transfer from animals to humans - are no longer available, The Mail on Sunday revealed.

The state-run organisation deleted scores of online content, including studies carried out by Wuhan based virologist Shi Zhengli - dubbed “Batwoman”.

 

[Agema]

US ‘proof’ COVID leaked from Wuhan lab

The US claims it has explosive new evidence that proves COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan research lab.

www.news.com.au

Mr Pompeo called on the WHO to investigate the lab in question, just one day after a team from the organisation landed in Wuhan.

I'm keeping an open mind, but I can't help but remember Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

Never mind that the Trump administration is trying to leave a minefield for their own successors, or that Pompeo has a 2024 presidential campaign to start.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

You don't need RCTs (randomized controlled trials) to tell you if XYZ is a good idea. We found out that smoking causes lung cancer via correlational data and data analysis because, you know, you can't do a RCT for that obviously. When time is of the essence (like a pandemic), you find out what works, then you find out why afterwards when you have the time.

 

[Catfood220]

Ok, so thanks to the fact I am a front line funeral person, I have been lucky enough to have my first shot of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine yesterday. Without wanting to sound ungrateful, but wow this vaccine is a jerk. I feel tired and achy, however my craving for human flesh is about normal so far, so that's good. A couple of people I work with who also had the vaccine have had worse side effects than me. Both reporting being up at night with cold sweats and headaches. So I'm glad I didn't end up with those side effects.

So, tonight I'm going to feeling sorry for myself and eating comfort food.

 

[Houseman]

How convenient, a day after the election...

 

[MrCalavera]

How convenient, a day after the election...

Mmm... Whole rest of the world conspiring to elect Biden. That's bad. I don't see any other solution, than America ejecting itself into space.

 

[Avnger]

How convenient, a day after the election...

Are you truly stuck in the past like silentpony's running gag from the other thread? The election happened two and a half months ago...

 

[Seanchaidh]

How convenient, a day after the election...

This will do quite a lot to reduce the death count.

 

[Houseman]

Are you truly stuck in the past like silentpony's running gag from the other thread? The election happened two and a half months ago...

Sorry, I meant inauguration.
That should have been evident by the date on the tweet.

 

[Avnger]

Sorry, I meant inauguration.
That should have been evident by the date on the tweet.

You said election, so I took you at your word. Won't make that mistake again

I thought you didn't like others reading into your posts anything other than the literal words typed?

 

[Houseman]

You said election, so I took you at your word. Won't make that mistake again

I thought you didn't like others reading into your posts anything other than the literal words typed?

I don't. That is why I apologized for my mistake and corrected it.

 

[Avnger]

I don't. That is why I apologized for my mistake and corrected it.

You followed it up with a passive-aggressive "you should have known what I meant anyway." It's literally two posts above; why are you omitting half the contents like we can't all see them?

That should have been evident by the date on the tweet.

 

[Houseman]

You followed it up with a passive-aggressive "you should have known what I meant anyway."

You should have known what I meant. It should have been obvious if you would have looked at the date of the tweet.
But I don't fault you for that, it's an easy thing to miss, the fault was my own, as I have already said.

Continuing to harp on a mistake, getting two closely related events swapped, that someone has already apologized, is something that a jerk and a bully does.

 

[Kwak]

You should have known what I meant. It should have been obvious if you would have looked at the date of the tweet.
But I don't fault you for that, it's an easy thing to miss, the fault was my own, as I have already said.

Continuing to harp on a mistake, getting two closely related events swapped, that someone has already apologized, is something that a jerk and a bully does.

Why is it 'convenient'?

 

[Houseman]

Why is it 'convenient'?

Because they switched the rules as soon as a new President entered office, rules which should be more strict in eliminating false-positives, and which should lower the number of cases. It's good for Biden.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Because they switched the rules as soon as a new President entered office, rules which should be more strict in eliminating false-positives, and which should lower the number of cases. It's good for Biden.

"This is not new information. This is essentially a reminder from the WHO to testing laboratories," said Jonathan Jarry, a science communicator with the McGill University Office for Science and Society. "This notice is not an admission that the PCR test for COVID-19 does not work or is wildly inaccurate."

WHO didn't say PCR tests cause many false positives

A conservative news site mischaracterized a message from the World Health Organization, claiming that the United Nations

www.politifact.com

The official case count numbers we all know are pretty meaningless anyway. It's common knowledge that there's been 8-10x the infections than the official count has it at.

 

[Houseman]

"This is not new information. This is essentially a reminder from the WHO to testing laboratories," said Jonathan Jarry, a science communicator with the McGill University Office for Science and Society. "This notice is not an admission that the PCR test for COVID-19 does not work or is wildly inaccurate."

WHO didn't say PCR tests cause many false positives

A conservative news site mischaracterized a message from the World Health Organization, claiming that the United Nations

www.politifact.com

The official case count numbers we all know are pretty meaningless anyway. It's common knowledge that there's been 8-10x the infections than the official count has it at.

The tweet isn't claiming anything about "grossly inflate", which seems to be what the "fact check" seems to be taking issue with. It doesn't seem to match

 

[Phoenixmgs]

The tweet isn't claiming anything about "grossly inflate", which seems to be what the "fact check" seems to be taking issue with. It doesn't seem to match

Because they switched the rules as soon as a new President entered office, rules which should be more strict in eliminating false-positives, and which should lower the number of cases. It's good for Biden.