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Hiding COVID-19's Origins: China Continues to Threaten Any Country That Calls For a Formal Inquiry Into the Pandemic's Origins
Townhall ^ | 06/17/2020 | Betsy McCaughey

Posted on 06/17/2020 7:55:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

China is determined to block investigations of where COVID-19 came from. But worse, influential American scientists are going along with censoring any inquiry. They're declaring their "solidarity with the scientists and health professionals of China."

That's a deadly problem. Conquering this virus and devising a vaccine will require unbiased research, no matter where it leads. The best weapon to fight this virus is the truth. The biggest mistake is to limit scientific inquiry and pander to China. We need scientists to be scientists, not political censors.

When Australia called for a formal inquiry into the pandemic's origins, China explicitly threatened to boycott Australian imports, slapping 80% tariffs on barley and restrictions on beef. Countries got the message. The World Health Assembly, the legislative arm of WHO, settled for a watered-down resolution to investigate the global "response" to COVID-19, not its origins.

What we don't know about COVID-19 far exceeds what little is known. But research has already forced China to abandon its original tale that the virus leaped from wild animals to a human at the Huanan Seafood market in December. Some of these new findings will be essential for developing a vaccine and troubleshooting future viral disasters.

Findings by Cambridge University geneticist Peter Forster indicate three different strains of COVID-19 were circulating in China in the summer of 2019, each later predominating in a different part of the world.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and the Broad Institute, a Harvard and MIT affiliate, indicate the virus was already capable of spreading to humans when it reached Wuhan.

Harvard scientists using aerial photographs of crammed hospital parking lots in Wuhan beginning in August 2019 speculate the virus hit that city months before China admits. China calls that suggestion "ridiculous."

European scientists indicate the disease invaded France, and possibly Italy, by December, though at the time it was thought to be flu.

Most controversially, a new study in Cambridge University's QRB Discovery by three vaccine researchers points to a segment in the virus's genetic code they say may have been engineered in a lab. They argue that the addition is what makes the virus contagious to humans, in addition to wild animals like bats.

These leads need to be investigated further, but instead, they are being denounced as "conspiracy theories." Not just by the Chinese Communist Party, but also by many scientists from prestigious American universities.

On Jan. 31, the World Health Organization praised China for transparency, a lie because they knew China was withholding information.

Then, on Feb. 19, scientists from the University of Chicago, Emory University and other institutions signed a letter in Lancet supporting the WHO director general's call for "unity" with China and condemning any research "suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin."

They "overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife." How could they know so soon?

The EcoHealth Alliance blasted the hypothesis of a lab-engineered genetic component as "the latest chapter in a tale of blame, misinformation, and finger pointing" and warned it could become a platform for "posturing against China ... trade sanctions, and even reparations."

ABC News' medical correspondents claimed that "virologists around the globe have fiercely debunked" the theory. Many attacked it, for sure, but hardly disproved it.

Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health, and scientists writing a critique in the journal Nature Medicine argue that "if the new coronavirus had been manufactured in a lab, scientists most likely would have used the backbones of coronaviruses already known to cause serious diseases in humans" rather than inventing something new. "Most likely?" That's a guess, not proof.

On the other hand, infectivity can be the result of naturally occurring mutations. Scripps Research virologists reported June 12 that the COVID-19 virus currently circulating in the U.S. has mutated to be more contagious.

What we know is the virus was spreading months before China disclosed it and did not originate in Wuhan, contrary to China's original claim. Now we need to search for the uncensored truth.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: australia; bioweapon; cambridge; china; covid19; ecohealthalliance; emoryuniversity; franciscollins; lancet; nih; origins; peterforster; uofchicago; who; wuhanflu

1 posted on 06/17/2020 7:55:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Seeing these old meds being effective at different phases of the virus makes me think it was created in a lab with specifics.

Of course, Cuomo's edit to send Seniors to "the chambers" didn't help that "specific"....that seniors are more vulnerable.

Remember, in 1918, people weren't living in apartments or in nursing homes....as they do today.

2 posted on 06/17/2020 8:08:30 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: SeekAndFind

Even without examining whether this was an accidental or intentional release from their lab or even a naturally occurring virus, all one needs to know is that China protected the rest of China from Wuhan, but did not protect the rest of the world from Wuhan.

At the same time they were bulldozing roads to stop escape from Wuhan, they were allowing international flights to continue.


3 posted on 06/17/2020 8:12:15 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents|Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: Lurkinanloomin

Good point. And what’s your second thought? Seriously... I’m not being snarky. Finish your thought.

And therefore?


4 posted on 06/17/2020 8:23:31 AM PDT by TangledUpInBlue
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To: SeekAndFind
"They "overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife.""

Then why the unprecedented lockdown measures for half of your population, China? It's a weapon and as usual with the Chinese, a poor quality one.

5 posted on 06/17/2020 8:28:17 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: TangledUpInBlue

Infecting the rest of the world was intentional.


6 posted on 06/17/2020 8:28:23 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents|Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: Lurkinanloomin

See, I would easily think that too. But to what end? What was the benefit to China? Let’s face it - they’re lying, cheating, filthy people. But they also plan plan plan. They wouldn’t do this if there wasn’t a benefit to them.

So what is it? Clearly their own economy has been damaged significantly and they have also suffered serious PR damage as countries are “billing” them for costs and not willingly trading with them.

The scary answer to me, is that it was a potential test of a weapon. The good thing is, they may now realize a bug like that has a significant boomerang effect and behaves unpredictably when released.

I’m not totally sold on how it got it or why. Either way. Will be interesting to see what comes of it.


7 posted on 06/17/2020 8:34:19 AM PDT by TangledUpInBlue
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To: SeekAndFind

Boycott China.


8 posted on 06/17/2020 8:48:36 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) 2028!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Covid-19 is a bio-weapon.


9 posted on 06/17/2020 8:49:43 AM PDT by MrBambaLaMamba ("It's a lie. It's all lies.")
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To: All

WUHAN FLU!!!

KUNG FLU!!!

CHINESE FLU!!!

UP YOURS CHINA!!!


10 posted on 06/17/2020 9:46:06 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Western World must realize, without a adoubt, that China is its sworn enemy. Boycott China.


11 posted on 06/17/2020 11:37:22 AM PDT by 353FMG (Oceans and oceans of snakeoil and not a paddle.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Apparently , many “scientists “ have sold their souls to Chinese communist losers. What worthless , integrity-free degenerates...and traitors .


12 posted on 06/17/2020 5:57:48 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp???)
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To: Lurkinanloomin

Even without examining whether this was an accidental or intentional release from their lab or even a naturally occurring virus, all one needs to know is that China protected the rest of China from Wuhan, but did not protect the rest of the world from Wuhan.

At the same time they were bulldozing roads to stop escape from Wuhan, they were allowing international flights to continue.


Yep.

And, their continued refusal to allow outside investigations, is most telling, as well.


13 posted on 06/17/2020 5:59:39 PM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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