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Saturday, February 22, 2020

UPDATED: How Likely Is It That Covid 19 Is A Bioweapon?

The short answer: Quite likely. I've suspected this for a long time based on government reactions--both from the Chinese government and other governments. Russia, for example, has basically banned Chinese from entering Russia. That drastic step suggests that Russia knows something.

And the likelihood that Covid 19 is an escaped bioweapon comes across very clearly in an article by China expert Steven Mosher in the NYPost: Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab. The article is fairly long, but here are the telltale signs:

At an emergency meeting in Beijing held last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about the need to contain the coronavirus and set up a system to prevent similar epidemics in the future. 
A national system to control biosecurity risks must be put in place “to protect the people’s health,” Xi said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue. 

Mosher admits, that's not an actual admission, but it's pretty darn close. What are people supposed to make of a statement like that in the circumstances? And Xi's statement was followed up with a lab safety directive the very next day:

Xi didn’t actually admit that the coronavirus now devastating large swathes of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs. But the very next day, evidence emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened, as the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive entitled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.” 

Since in all of China there's only one microbiology lab that handles "advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus”, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, that means that that directive on lab safety was directed explicitly at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Moreover:


... the People’s Liberation Army’s top expert in biological warfare, a Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, was dispatched to Wuhan at the end of January to help with the effort to contain the outbreak. 
According to the PLA Daily, Gen. Chen has been researching coronaviruses since the SARS outbreak of 2003, as well as Ebola and anthrax. This would not be her first trip to the Wuhan Institute of Virology either, since it is one of only two bioweapons research labs in all of China.

If Covid 19 were a purely natural phenomenon, you wouldn't expect a Major General in bio-warfare to be dispatched to Wuhan.

Yikes!

This could explain why Covid 19 seems to be behaving differently than most viruses. Which leads to the question: If it behaves differently, will it--like other viruses--be suppressed when warmer weather arrives, or will it continue to spread?

UPDATE: I saw this report this morning: Trump furious Americans infected with coronavirus flew back to US without his permission: report. Excerpt:

President Trump was furious that 14 Americans infected with the coronavirus returned to the United States without his permission rather than remain in quarantine overseas, according to a new report. 
Trump had been briefed that the healthy U.S. passengers who spent weeks quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan would be allowed to fly home on two chartered planes -- while those who were sick or infected would stay in Japan to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. 
The president became "furious" with senior advisers after learning the 14 Americans who tested positive had been put on a plane with healthy passengers, according to The Washington Post. One official told the paper that the failure to inform Trump of the decision in advance of the plane's departure was a “big operational mistake.”

Trump, of course, is a noted germophobe. On the other hand, it's possible he has received briefings on Covid 19 that aren't being made public.

22 comments:

  1. My Beijing-born girlfriend last night asked me, out of the blue, "if the Wuhan virus is man-made, what can we do?" So, Chinese ex-patriots seem to believe this was likely produced by the Chinese government. That's all the evidence I need.

    My answer to her, after about 1 second of thought, was "Don't let anyone come here from China, and don't go to China. If the virus is man-made, not natural, the human body may not know how to fight it. That's why so many people are dying in Hubei province"

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    1. What's the point of having two vast oceans to the East and West of us if we don't put them to good use?

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  2. By my calculations mortality rates are between 4 and 8 %. Far above what can be expected of a natiral virus.
    Tom S.

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  3. I agree with Mark's surmise that a bioweapon lab may be the source of the outbreak, as the following suggests...

    The head of WHO, Dr. AG Tedros, praised Beijing for saving the world. "We would have seen many more cases outside China by now, and probably deaths, if it were not for the government’s efforts and the progress they have made to protect their own people and the people of the world."
    https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)

    Such statements--this was made on January 30--of such self-serving and over-the-top praise serve no other purpose than to paper over any explanation for the source of the virus. Such commentary should be saved for the end of the outbreak, were it then deserved, when the results are known, and the death count is no longer rising--not while the virus is still raging uncontrollably. Literally, it is political correctness writ large, when truth-telling can be hazardous to one's health.

    There is a certain art form to reading press releases. The substance-free nature of that from the WHO is telling, and serve as counter-evidence to the narrative pushed on the public.

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    1. My wife listens to the local CBS radio news station, which has regular business news reports. She says the biggest topic is Covid 19, and the consensus is: We don't know where this is going. There's no praise for the Chicom government.

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  4. And a second note I forgot to mention... If China was sufficiently pro-active to diminish the impact of Covid 19, they wouldn't have given Wuhan residents advance notification of the quarantine, which allowed 5 million residents to evacuate the city.

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  5. The leader of the WHO is a corrupt political hack from Ethiopia, first non Dr. head, that got his position due to Chinese and African support. Translation - he is following the Chinese Propaganda Line. From the NY Times:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/health/candidate-who-director-general-ethiopia-cholera-outbreaks.html

    And a lot of News organizations, and Internet Giants, are following the Chinese Line. They are afraid of offending China. So they are routing out fake news, and following the WHO Guidelines. Zerohedge got banned from Twitter for suggesting the origin of the CoronaVirus was a lab.

    The Wall Street Journal just had three journalists expelled, due to a good article, wrong title, from Walter Mead Russell, China is the Real Sick Man of Asia. The expelling was not about the article which is supposedly Racist and derogatory, but about sending a message to Western Reporters, of be careful what you report.

    Lots of coverage does not include a link to the article:
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-is-the-real-sick-man-of-asia-11580773677

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    1. Yes, WHO has covered itself in shame on this, blatantly influenced. Wait till it hits Africa, which it will (one case in Egypt, so far). The countries there are all saying, OMG, we're totally unprepared for anything like this.

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  6. Current Theories on CoronaVirus Origin:

    1. Bats somehow that are native a couple of hundred kilometers ended up in Wet Market in Wuhan. This is the official story.

    2. It came from a health institute, where Corona Virus infected bats were being studied, a few hundred meters from the Wet Market. Due to sloppiness.

    3. CoronaVirus was artificially created and weaponized, and was meant to be studied for a vaccine, and was accidentally released. This is why it seems to be affecting Asian Males more.

    My gut feel is #2.

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    1. I'm going with #3 until I'm convinced otherwise. Unfortunately I'm no scientist. However I do recall reading articles that claimed the bat angle has been debunked--not merely re the market, but for some biological reasons. The way it spreads, its virulence, the fact that you can be reinfected (!), and the extraordinary dormancy period during which carriers can infect--it all points IMO toward something engineered.

      Convince me otherwise, but for now ...

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  7. Testing for the CoronaVirus currently seems not very reliable, and expensive. I was surprised that per the WJS, Hawaii, has ZERO Test Kits.

    Why Does the U.S. Have So Few Confirmed Coronavirus Cases?
    WSJ https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-does-the-u-s-have-so-few-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-11582241112

    This is changing fast. But, keep in mind with the public statistics, that many countries such as Indonesia are not even testing.

    In the 1918 pandemic, 50-60 Million people world wide died.

    Interesting Video on CoronVirus Spread:
    https://twitter.com/novel_covid_19/status/1230930135890776065?s=20

    South Korea is now up to 602 diagnosed, and 6 dead.

    I hope warmer weather impacts the spread. I notice all the areas that are being hit by CoronaVirus so far, are pretty cold.

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  8. Questions I want better data on from China:

    - What is the real death rate?

    - Who is being infected?

    - How fast does it spread?

    - Who is dying? Is it only the old, or ?

    - What is the real infection rate?

    China is lying. The question is how much are they lying.

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    1. No one with any experience trusts economic data from China--why would health data be any different...

      The Chinese gov't publishes data--but how can the numbers be ascertained as anything but wholly fabricated, invented, made-up... They can't.

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  9. I have been surprised at the overall quality of the US Response to the CoronaVirus. And you can tell it's been good, by the lack of negative blowback on Trump.

    Trump, for whatever reason, seems to be taking a very aggressive stance. The US travel ban / quarantine was the first one done in the US in 50 years (I can't find what the previous quarantine was for).

    CoronaVirus is one of the few things that could really impact the US election. My guess is it will have a significant economic impact on some areas of the US.

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  10. Ray, all good points. China is now confirming that the first confirmed instances seem to be "human to human" transmission. They've pretty much backed off the bat narrative.

    There's no way of knowing the real death rate, but most indications are that it's higher than expected from this type of virus.

    It spreads fast, because it's as readily transmissible as the common cold. You mention the seeming explosion in S. Korea, which is reacting with a high level of alarm.

    Re climate, I would disagree. Wuhan's climate is humid sub-tropical. Average January temp is 39 F. Closer to the coast is warmer. Shanghai--same latitude--Jan. ave. 46 F, Hong Kong has mild winters.

    You mention Indonesia not even testing. All of East and Southeast countries have large Chinese resident populations, not to mention travelers and guest workers. Therefore Lunar New Year travel to and from China would have been high.

    Re Trump's aggressive reaction--as also Putin's--that's a reason I strongly suspect the briefings they've received pointed out a likelihood that Covid 19 is in fact a bioweapon, which explains its' rapid spread, high degree of transmissibility, etc.

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  11. Mark,

    I had not looked into the temperatures in Wuhan. My guess was since it was in the center of China on the temperature.

    >Re climate, I would disagree. Wuhan's climate is humid >sub-tropical.

    This statement is true during the summer. During the Winter it's colder. Average Temp in Dec 46F, Jan 39F, Feb. 43F. But, Wuhan has a lot of lakes, so very humid. Sounds like a perfect breeding ground for a virus.

    Reference:
    https://www.travelchinaguide.com/climate/wuhan.htm

    Good news is it's getting warmer:
    https://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/wuhan/103847/february-weather/103847

    I pray the CoronaVirus has a heat issue.

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    1. But obviously it probably isn't going to disappear. Some are speculating that it could become a "seasonal illness" like the flu. That's the optimistic scenario--a seasonal bioweapon is not a happy thought. And if you're engineering such a bioweapon, one of your first thoughts is likely: how do I get this to work outside the usual climatic parameters? A bioweapon that only works in winter would be pretty limiting.

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    2. My guess is within 12 months there will be a vaccine.

      Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is funding some novel ways, that may speed up a vaccine. China is pushing hard on their own vaccine efforts.

      https://www.businessinsider.com/vaccines-for-wuhan-china-cornonavirus-moderna-inovio-cepi-2020-1?op=1

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  12. "14 Americans who tested positive had been put on a plane with healthy passengers"

    That's some impressive incompetence. Or ... were they adequately interspersed to ensure 100% exposure?

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  13. Isn't it interesting that just a year before the SARS 2, AKA covid-19 CAME OUT: THIS WAS WRITTEN: "China’s Aging Population Is a Major Threat to Its Future...China’s pension shortfall could top $130 billion by 2020, according to Beijing’s National Academy of Economic Strategy, and China’s debt burden is already estimated at three times its GDP." AND THEN COMES COVID-19....MMM

    How ironic that COVID 19 targets the aging population. Even more pathetic is vile Democratic reaction to this China virus intended to purge elderly. They jumped on this faster than Hunter Biden could snort a line while getting a lapdance. So instead of asking, like most critical thinking people do, why the hell is this virus suddenly killing off older people, nope, the Dems don't care, they only see this virus as a weapon to use against Trump, they actually want more deaths, it's as if this virus is a free for all who are evil looking for ways to devour, to use it in anyway they want to do damage to others for their own greedy vile gain. Oh, so glad that GOD sees all and knows all and will meet out justice to the evil people of this world. With their confusion, manipulation of media, etc...so again, think about how weird it is that just a few years before this elderly killing virus, there were NUMEROUS news articles talking about how aging populations were hurting certain countries, for example, ITALY and CHINA.... MMMMM......
    https://www.cnbc.com/2012/10/30/Countries-With-Aging-Populations.html


    https://econlife.com/2018/06/italys-aging-population/
    https://time.com/5523805/china-aging-population-working-age/

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    1. There are a number of disturbing aspects to this.

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