(EXCLUSIVE) Experts: 'Omicron Covid-19 likely came from a lab, too’

SharylAttkisson.com ^ | March 26, 2022 | Sharyl Attkisson

[FreeReign]

Scientists say Omicron appears to have a clear lab origin

Future lab releases of Covid-19 variants are “likely”

When Omicron emerged, many scientists were bowled over by the lightning speed with which it spread. Although public health officials had warned that the original Covid-19 was highly contagious and fast-moving— it looked like it was standing still next to the Omicron variant.

Watch video at link:

Link

Now, some scientists examining the virus have concluded “vast” genetic mutations that likely occurred in a lab setting are what makes Omicron spread so quickly.

Omicron was first detected in Botswana, South Africa, reported to have been brought by a foreign delegation from a country officials will not identify, making it more difficult for outside observers to track its origin.

To many scientists, the genetic differences that made Omicron so quickly transmissible caused it to immediately stand out as unlikely to be a result of a natural evolution. Some note the “rapid accumulation of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant that enabled its outbreak.”

[LouAvul]

Blogs belong in .......... blogs.

[piasa]

A strange bit of trivia is that this variant was diagnosed in Botswana from 4 people, foreign to Botswana. And, the diagnosis was made at a lab associated with Harvard that researches AIDS. And, this variant appeared in Botswana during the same month that the high Court in Botswana was hearing a challenge to a landmark homosexual rights bill. Because of that, I wonder if the foreigners entered the country to help fight the challenge to the Botswana gay rights agenda, if maybe they were Americans. Also, as I recall, one of the people Durham indicted is South African in origin, or his family is- Joffe, I think?

[piasa]

That is what it feels like.

[JimRed]

Just as we’ve been saying FOR TWO EFFIN’ YEARS!

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Very interesting.

This is an overview of the Hunter Biden emails drop.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1449865871577554948.html

[struggle]

I was thinking it was the Chinese, as they need to get their economy back on track before lack of investment in real estate destroys it.

[Shady]

Quackony Fauxi! Quackony Fauxi! You have a call on line #666…

[yesthatjallen]

Does anyone remember when that Chinese woman showed up at Mar La Go with a flashdrive just before the initial covid outbreak?

What was that about?

[Bob434]

as many years as it takes the left to admit they were wrong about something- anything-

[sanjuanbob]

That’s a good link..thanks for posting.

[null and void]

Very likely. But Omicron actually stopped Delta and ended the pandemic or changed it anyway to an "endemic".

If I were China, and I were evil (but I repeat myself) I would have developed something quite like the Omicron variant, kept it to myself, and once the bad COVID-19 was well established world wide, spread the Omicron variant as a community vaccine against the 'deadly' strain, within China and lock the country down in an effort to protect my own people, prevent Omicron from spreading outside my borders and immunizing the rest of the world so the rest of the world dies from a combination of COVID and the "vaccine".

It's worth noting that "Omicron was first detected in Botswana, South Africa, reported to have been brought by a foreign delegation from a country officials will not identify..."

Won't identify, won't identify, WON'T IDENTIFY??? China has both a heavy presence in Africa, and quite enough clout to persuade local officials to shut up or else!

The government wants to disarm us after 245 yrs 'cuz they plan to do are doing things we would shoot them for!

At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son

The biggest killer of mankind

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...

[Cold Heart]

“Very likely. But Omicron actually stopped Delta and ended the pandemic or changed it anyway to an “endemic”.

Which means they have an on off on button any time they want.

[indthkr]

COVID bump for later....

[PGalt]

Thanks for the link.

[tina07]

My son’s 36 yr. old healthy girlfriend and 3 kids got it, the kids are 13, 11 and 3. Kids recovered quickly, girlfriend had it for a while. My son didn’t get it at all. They live in Florida.

[tina07]

My son is 39, works outdoors, pool cleaning guy (and occasional tile) perhaps his vitamin D protection is way up.

[Cold Heart]

As a side note from my wife’s cardiac therapy classes, 30 minutes of exercise 6x a week prevents 90-95% of illnesses or medication requirements.

One of my health care providers recently mentioned that exercise outside provides 4x the benefits as indoor exercise.

So there

Diet exercise sleep

[semimojo]

She cites a John Hopkins virologist, Andrew Pekosz.

Who says nothing about the virus being created in a lab.

He says "There was a large number of mutations in this variant—many more than we would expect from the normal evolution of this virus", which everyone knows, and he likely thinks it's due to the scenario that has been posited since the beginning of Omicron:

"Perhaps someone immune-compromised was infected, and active replication of the virus was maintained for a very long time."

She then cites a scientific paper...

And that paper acknowledges the most popular hypothesis is the one mentioned above - that Omicron developed in an immuno-compromised person. They then go on to speculate about it having arisen in mice, and in fact speculate that mice have long been an alternate host for SARS CoV-2. Their thesis is the mutations happened in mice in the wild and they say absolutely nothing about lab development.

As I said, she couldn't find a single person to put up the lab theory who was willing to use their name.

[FreeReign]

Who says nothing about the virus being created in a lab. Pekosz says "There was a large number of mutations in this variant—many more than we would expect from the normal evolution of this virus", which everyone knows, and he likely thinks it's due to the scenario that has been posited since the beginning of Omicron:

Pekosz says the mutations suggest a non evolutionary process. A non evolutionary process is something that doesn't occur in the wild.

"Perhaps someone immune-compromised was infected, and active replication of the virus was maintained for a very long time."

That's NOT a quote from Pekosz. That's a quote from one of the unnamed sources. You know the unnamed sources that you criticized for being unnamed. Now you are using the unnamed source to attempt to make your argument. And you neglected to mention that the source also described the more probable lab scenario.

And that paper acknowledges the most popular hypothesis is the one mentioned above - that Omicron developed in an immuno-compromised person. They then go on to speculate about it having arisen in mice, and in fact speculate that mice have long been an alternate host for SARS CoV-2. Their thesis is the mutations happened in mice in the wild and they say absolutely nothing about lab development.

Where in their paper does it say that the mice mutations happened in the "wild"?? It doesn't. And it doesn't describe it as the most "popular" scenario either.

As Attkisson goes on cite...

“The original virus had difficulties establishing infections in mice, and for laboratory use we had to have ACE2 transgenic mice [also known as] humanized mice that expressed the human ACE2 receptor,” says a scientist.

Seems like it's common knowledge that mice don't naturally catch and transmit COVID. They have to be humanized in a lab. Never mind that mice are the animals typically used in lab experiments.

[semimojo]

A non evolutionary process is something that doesn't occur in the wild.

No so. In fact, an unusual scenario where a virus is free to continue to replicate without an immune reaction eliminates the selection element of evolution and is exactly a non-evolutionary process.

That's NOT a quote from Pekosz...Now you are using the unnamed source to attempt to make your argument...

I never meant to imply Pekosz was the source of that quote. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

And it isn't my argument, it's the one I've been hearing from others since Omicron occurred. I included it because it was in the article and to make it clear it wasn't just something I had made up.

Where in their paper does it say that the mice mutations happened in the "wild"?

"We found that the molecular spectrum of pre-outbreak Omicron mutations was inconsistent with the rapid accumulation of mutations in humans but rather suggested a trajectory in which the progenitor of Omicron experienced a reverse zoonotic event from humans to mice sometime during the pandemic (most likely in mid-2020) and accumulated mutations in a mouse host for more than one year before jumping back to humans in late-2021..."

They posit that the virus jumped to mice and back to humans more than a year later. Nothing about anything being engineered in nor escaping from a lab.

Not sure? Here's more context:

"The molecular docking-based predictions showed that the adaptation of Omicron to mice also promoted its adaptation to other species, such as humans, camels, and goats, via stronger RBD-ACE2 interaction (Fig. 6). Such a ‘pleiotropic effect’ of mutations was likely caused by structural similarity of ACE2 across species, and indicates that once a SARS-CoV-2 variant acquires the capacity to infect a new host, it can accumulate mutations in this new animal reservoir and becomes transmittable to another host. This ‘chain reaction’ of host jumping could potentially lead to remarkably high diversity in the adaptation to ACE2 from various host species....

Humans represent the largest known reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, and frequently come in contact with other animals, including livestock animals, pets, or wild animals that invade homes searching for food and shelter. Given the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to jump across various species, it appears likely that global populations will face additional animal-derived variants until the pandemic is well under control."

They're clearly talking about transmission in the wild.

And it doesn't describe it as the most "popular" scenario either.

"The first hypothesis is that Omicron could have ‘cryptically spread’ and circulated in a population with insufficient viral surveillance and sequencing. Second, Omicron could have evolved in a chronically infected COVID-19 patient, such as an immunocompromised individual who provided a suitable host environment conducive to long-term intra-host virus adaptation. The third possibility is that Omicron could have accumulated mutations in a nonhuman host and then jumped into humans. Currently, the second scenario represents the most popular hypothesis regarding the proximal origins of Omicron..."

Attkisson doesn't have one person willing to give the lab theory on the record.

The article is click bait from an author who makes her living off of clicks.