To see why the Aug hospital parking lots and net searches is no longer being considered, see post #76, save yourselves some unnecessary stress.
Again trying to move the discussion forward. I cited this Nature article from 2015 a frew posts back:
A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence.
I don't pretend to understand some of the specifics in this paper but I understand the gist of this description of how the researchers are manipulating the coronaviruses they are working with.
Quote:
Viruses, cells, in vitro infection and plaque assays.
Wild-type SARS-CoV (Urbani), mouse-adapted SARS-CoV (MA15) and chimeric SARS-like CoVs were cultured on Vero E6 cells (obtained from United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases), grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) (Gibco, CA) and 5% fetal clone serum (FCS) [details snipped] Human lungs for HAE cultures were procured under University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institutional Review Board–approved protocols. HAE cultures represent highly differentiated human airway epithelium containing ciliated and non-ciliated epithelial cells as well as goblet cells. The cultures are also grown on an air-liquid interface for several weeks before use, as previously described26. Briefly, cells were washed with PBS and inoculated with virus or mock-diluted in PBS for 40 min at 37 °C. After inoculation, cells were washed three times and fresh medium was added to signify time '0'. Three or more biological replicates were harvested at each described time point. No blinding was used in any sample collections nor were samples randomized. All virus cultivation was performed in a biosafety level (BSL) 3 laboratory with redundant fans in the biosafety cabinets, as described previously by our group2. All personnel wore powered air purifying respirators (Breathe Easy, 3M) with Tyvek suits, aprons and booties and were double-gloved.
On to the figures/charts.
Figure 1: SARS-like viruses replicate in human airway cells and produce in vivo pathogenesis.
Figure 3: Full-length SHC014-CoV replicates in human airways but lacks the virulence of epidemic SARS-CoV. (Similar to H5N1 which is still a potential flu pandemic threat.)
Figure 4: Emergence paradigms for coronaviruses.
Quote:
Existing data support elements of all three paradigms.
1) bat to intermediate animal to humans
2) bat directly to humans
3) :
Quote:
The data from chimeric SARS-like viruses argue that the quasi-species pools maintain multiple viruses capable of infecting human cells without the need for mutations (red circles). Although adaptations in secondary or human hosts may be required for epidemic emergence, ....
And an interesting addendum:
Quote:
30 March 2020 Editors’ note, March 2020: We are aware that this article is being used as the basis for unverified theories that the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 was engineered. There is no evidence that this is true; scientists believe that an animal is the most likely source of the coronavirus.
It depends on one's definition of "engineered". What these researchers demonstrated was how a human pandemic might occur and to do that they manipulated SARS-like coronaviruses.
They also note how carefully they maintained isolation when dealing with these dangerous viruses. What we don't know from this is was the Wuhan Institute just as careful?
Did the WHO look at those employees' and students' antibodies demonstrating no COVID 19 leaked. Yes, I am dismissing the Wuhan researchers claims
without evidence backing those claims up that none of the viruses in their lab resembled the pandemic virus.
And
what explains the coincidence that the initial outbreak was near the Wuhan lab? You know, "Of All The Gin Joints In All The Towns In All The World, She Walks Into Mine." There are thousands of wet markets in China. There are thousands of places people interact with animals where a species jump could occur. SARS 1 species jump was nowhere near Wuhan regardless the Institute was not there in 2003. Wuhan is nowhere near the bat caves.
I think that is the biggest question that needs an answer before we can rule out a lab accident.