Wuhan coronavirus (global health emergency)

Couple Tests Positive for Coronavirus After Returning From Vacation in Hawaii

Couple from Japan traveled to Hawaii, then tested positive for the virus upon return to Japan.

This has raised questions about contacts in Hawaii. They were not symptomatic at the time, so risk is thought to be low, but transmission is thought to be possible even without symptoms being present. They were on two separate islands during their time.

The question that is less clear is where they contracted it in the first place, in Japan, on the way to Hawaii in a plane, or in Hawaii itself. None of these sound like particularly good options as it suggests lack of containment somewhere.

Originsof2019-NCoV XiaoB Res | Microbiology | Earth & Life Sciences

Zero hedge uploaded the original paper, but now both scientists profiles have been removed from researchgate.

The lead scientist operates out of the South China Institute of Technology.

And of course, it is conspiratorial to suggest that they could be pressured since they are in China. So we will wait to see if any other reporting comes out debunking the paper, or explaining the removal.

More than 1,700 health workers infected by coronavirus in China


The World Health Organization is seeking more information from China about the large numbers of health workers falling sick because of the coronavirus after it was revealed 1,760 of them have tested positive and six have died.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2020/02/article/coronavirus-lab-leakage-rumors-spreading/

Also, a paper that appeared in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet at the end of last month has lent credibility to speculation about the origins of the virus. The paper quoted seven doctors at Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital as saying that the first patient admitted on December 1 had “never been to the wet market,” nor had there been any epidemiological link between the first patient and subsequent infection cases, based on the data from the first 41 patients treated there.

Furthermore, a note from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology is seen as a tacit admission that some kind of incident may have occurred at the Wuhan lab.

On Saturday, the ministry issued a directive mandating more stringent handling of viruses and bioagents by all labs and research institutes. The document alluded to the slack oversight and management rampant at some facilities, and stressed that protection and decontamination must be beefed up now that more labs across the nation are intensifying their efforts to develop medicines to treat it and a vaccine to prevent it.

Ecns.cn is the official English-language website of China News Service (CNS), a state-level news agency sponsored and established by Chinese journalists and renowned overseas Chinese experts on October 1, 1952.


Biosafety guideline issued to fix chronic management loopholes at virus labs

The release of the guideline deals with chronic loopholes at laboratories, Yang Zhanqiu, a deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University in Hubei Province, told the Global Times on Sunday.


"The mention of biosafety at labs by the ministry has nothing to do with some saying that the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences," Yang said.


Laboratories in China have paid insufficient attention to biological disposal, Yang said.


Lab trash can contain man-made viruses, bacteria or microbes with a potentially deadly impact on human beings, animals or plants.


Some researchers discharge laboratory materials into the sewer after experiments without a specific biological disposal mechanism, Yang explained.


A minor SARS virus infection in Beijing and Anhui in 2004 was resulted from insufficient management and improper inactivation process at a lab, according to the People's Daily.


The small outbreak originated at a diarrhea lab of the virology department affiliated with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the article said. After the virology department was sealed off, no SARS patients were found.

Michael said:

Did coronavirus originate in Chinese government laboratory? | Daily Mail Online

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The article, the paper, another article on the subject, and a bunch of discussion is posted earlier in thread on the subject.

The profiles of both researchers were removed from Research Gate last I checked.

I must admit that I find it to be an odd coincidence that the biological lab in question is located only about 300 yards from the market where the virus is claimed to have originated. That's quite a coincidence.

Michael said:

I must admit that I find it to be an odd coincidence that the biological lab in question is located only about 300 yards from the market where the virus is claimed to have originated. That's quite a coincidence.

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Perhaps they built it there out of convenience simply because of all the viruses coming from the market.

So with all the places on planet Earth where the virus might have originated, what are the statistical odds that the corona virus *just so happens* to originate within 300 yards of a biological research facility that's known to work on just these sorts of viruses? They have to be less than 1 in a million.

Michael said:

So with all the places on planet Earth where the virus might have originated, what are the statistical odds that the corona virus *just so happens* to originate within 300 yards of a biological research facility that's known to work on just these sorts of viruses? They have to be less than 1 in a million.

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I don't know if we'll ever come to know the truth about this. One wonders if it's possible that even they don't know so it may not actually be a cover up. They genuinely might not know.

One thing is for certain. You start playing around with stuff like creating these things in labs what about the possibility of the genie being let out of the bottle even though it's without intent. It would seem a culture is just asking for trouble. All the safety precautions in the world all work well....until they don't. Then you have a disaster on your hands.

Bobber said:

One thing is for certain. You start playing around with stuff like creating these things in labs what about the possibility of the genie being let out of the bottle even though it's without intent.

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Good point might be what are they playing around for in the first place. If they can create an anti-viral reasonably quickly as the media is saying, then what have they been instead doing playing with this stuff for years?

Bobber said:

I don't know if we'll ever come to know the truth about this. One wonders if it's possible that even they don't know so it may not actually be a cover up. They genuinely might not know.

One thing is for certain. You start playing around with stuff like creating these things in labs what about the possibility of the genie being let out of the bottle even though it's without intent. It would seem a culture is just asking for trouble. All the safety precautions in the world all work well....until they don't. Then you have a disaster on your hands.

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The scary aspect of this particular virus is the fact that it's so contagious compared to say the SARS virus. The corona virus seems to be spreading like wildfire and it seems highly unlikely that it will be contained anytime soon, particularly with 160 million people going back to work this week in China.

Bobber said:

I don't know if we'll ever come to know the truth about this. One wonders if it's possible that even they don't know so it may not actually be a cover up. They genuinely might not know.

One thing is for certain. You start playing around with stuff like creating these things in labs what about the possibility of the genie being let out of the bottle even though it's without intent. It would seem a culture is just asking for trouble. All the safety precautions in the world all work well....until they don't. Then you have a disaster on your hands.

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Keep in mind that the allegation here would be that bats or samples from bats housed at the facility could be the host. Therefore, they would not necessarily know, as part of the reason they are studying the various samples is to identify new pathogens. Earlier articles referenced in the thread note that bats can carry all kinds of different Corona type viruses, many which have not yet been catalogued.

tall73 said:

Keep in mind that the allegation here would be that bats or samples from bats housed at the facility could be the host. Therefore, they would not necessarily know, as part of the reason they are studying the various samples is to identify new pathogens. Earlier articles referenced in the thread note that Bats can carry all kinds of different Corona type viruses, many which have not yet been catalogued.

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They also tend to carry ticks which might also transfer the virus.

Michael said:

The corona virus seems to be spreading like wildfire and it seems highly unlikely that it will be contained anytime soon

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Of the two planes that brought people back to the US , 19 people on them have since tested positive.

timothyu said:

Of the two planes that brought people back to the US , 19 people on them have since tested positive.

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...seems like an ill-advised decision:


But by the time their test results arrived, they were already on a fleet of buses that took 328 asymptomatic passengers from the ship to two charter planes bound for U.S. military bases in Texas and California, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the incident.

It was a wrench in a coordinated effort. While the buses sat on the tarmac, health experts mulled whether to put the 14 on the flights or divert them to hospitals in Japan, the official said. The State Department had already told passengers that virus-infected people would not board the flights.

The planes each included a sealed-off section of 18 seats in the back, and part of the plan was to isolate passengers there if they developed symptoms midflight, the official said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c9be48-4f70-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html

timothyu said:

Of the two planes that brought people back to the US , 19 people on them have since tested positive.

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So we've essentially more than doubled the number of confirmed cases here in the US in a single day. Like I said, it's likely that this virus will spread around the world.

Michael said:

So we've essentially more than doubled the number of confirmed cases here in the US in a single day. Like I said, it's likely that this virus will spread around the world.

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So what's the best case scenario that can take place with this possibility? And the worse case? Nobody knows? It seems to me the next 2-3 weeks the world could be in an absolute panic? Or maybe that things will show signs of coming around with less cases?