“We have NO idea where the mutation that created this virus originally came from.”
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Point taken; and if the epicenter of the outbreak had occurred anywhere other than the single city in China where they have recently constructed their only Level 4 biosafety lab I would agree w/you. That lab was constructed in response to the SARS virus outbreak and is heavily involved w/research that involves various Corona viruses and particularly animal to human transmission. These type facilities are classified as “dual use;” so, it is well known they can be used for manufacturing bioweapons.
I’m not saying your explanation is incorrect; however, to me the odds favor the bio lab.
IMHO the chicoms know it’s from the lab.
That’s why they’re freaking out.
I look at it the other way - that Lab is unlikely to be involved in bioweapons research (see another of my posts above), and even if it was, there’d be even MORE internal containment precautions in the bioweapons section. The last thing the Chinese gov’t would want is a scenario that damages their economy — and that’s exactly where it looks like this is heading.
That fear also explains the seemingly drastic (but may be too late) containment actions: Quarantining several cities is an economic blow, but nothing like the damage if this virus rampages throughout the country.
I’m not saying a lab sourced outbreak is “impossible”, just “unlikely”.
Now, compare that to the immediate region, where you have not just thousands, but probably hundreds of thousands of nice incubators of all sizes (large operations down to backyard livestock slaughtering), with little or no rules, almost no inspections, and Wuhan is a major transportation hub... I’ll post this yet again:
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3810083/posts?page=11#11
There are very good reasons why disease outbreaks emanate from China so frequently, especially now that they’ve built a tremendous transportation system.