News Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread IV

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DesertRoo said:
Former CDC director

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So what do you think about the idea that Omicron was made in a lab as an attempt to manipulate covid and speed up its evolution to a less dangerous virus?

It first appeared in an African nation (not South Africa tho) and the first recorded cases were "diplomats who'd been in Europe" according to whatever government of the nation it showed up in's press release (iirc it was Namibia). I think that was the exact language from the press release so it may or may not refer to European diplomats.

I saw a genetic analysis of Omicron that seemed to suggest it was descended from the Beta strain of the original Covid and followed a very different genetic path to Delta which was dominant at the time. It seemed like a strange thing that a virus would regress like that when it wasn't circulating in the human population. Altho it may have been circulating in an animal population in Europe, that is a possibility.

So the case it reminds me of is the re emergence of H1N1 in an identical form to the pre 1950s variants from the Eastern USSR in 1977. (So called Russian Flu.) At the time the dominant flu strain was H3N2 (so called "Hong Kong flu") which had replaced H2N2 in 1969. H1N1 was thought to be "extinct" as a strain as it hadn't circulated since the late 40s/early 50s, when H2N2 replaced it iirc. Its re emergence is considered a classic example of a flu like virus escaping from a lab by many experts.
 
ferball said:
So what do you think about the idea that Omicron was made in a lab as an attempt to manipulate covid and speed up its evolution to a less dangerous virus?

It first appeared in an African nation (not South Africa tho) and the first recorded cases were "diplomats who'd been in Europe" according to whatever government of the nation it showed up in's press release (iirc it was Namibia). I think that was the exact language from the press release so it may or may not refer to European diplomats.

I saw a genetic analysis of Omicron that seemed to suggest it was descended from the Beta strain of the original Covid and followed a very different genetic path to Delta which was dominant at the time. It seemed like a strange thing that a virus would regress like that when it wasn't circulating in the human population. Altho it may have been circulating in an animal population in Europe, that is a possibility.

So the case it reminds me of is the re emergence of H1N1 in an identical form to the pre 1950s variants from the Eastern USSR in 1977. (So called Russian Flu.) At the time the dominant flu strain was H3N2 (so called "Hong Kong flu") which had replaced H2N2 in 1969. H1N1 was thought to be "extinct" as a strain as it hadn't circulated since the late 40s/early 50s, when H2N2 replaced it iirc. Its re emergence is considered a classic example of a flu like virus escaping from a lab by many experts.
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Now you’re talking about a $100 billion dollar a year industry..
 
DesertRoo said:
Now you’re talking about a $100 billion dollar a year industry..
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Nothing is a monolithic entity, especially in business.

Personally I think the greatest risk this stuff provides comes from non state, and non business actors, so obviously one particular group we've both mentioned could fit that bill. But that doesn't also mean non state actors won't act on their own volition at times. If you knew you could (or at least backed yourself to,) build a variant of covid that was significantly less dangerous and could out compete it and had the resources why wouldn't you?

You might not make any money or get any fame from it, after all no one is gonna be cool with that sort of experimentation. But if you pulled it off the skills and confidence you'd get would almost guarantee you'll make that money and renown in future.

We've talked on here before about how long it is till people do this sort of s**t in their backyards using CRISPR and black market biological supplies. Tho we were referring to building weapons not necessarily counteracting them.
 

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Gasometer said:
The original post from the original thread. Right at the edge of the s**t show, March 2020…

View attachment 1625198
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Remember how full of hope we were.

Finals were just around the corner.

Ben Brown had kicked ten goals at the end of last year.

We'd won pre-season and first round games under our new coach.

What a time to be alive...
 
ferball said:
Nothing is a monolithic entity, especially in business.

Personally I think the greatest risk this stuff provides comes from non state, and non business actors, so obviously one particular group we've both mentioned could fit that bill. But that doesn't also mean non state actors won't act on their own volition at times. If you knew you could (or at least backed yourself to,) build a variant of covid that was significantly less dangerous and could out compete it and had the resources why wouldn't you?

You might not make any money or get any fame from it, after all no one is gonna be cool with that sort of experimentation. But if you pulled it off the skills and confidence you'd get would almost guarantee you'll make that money and renown in future.

We've talked on here before about how long it is till people do this sort of s**t in their backyards using CRISPR and black market biological supplies. Tho we were referring to building weapons not necessarily counteracting them.
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Absolutely,
It can get very dark with this type of research, especially if you can taint something like a milk supply.

Also you don’t need to create variants of concern in a lab humans will do that.
UK Approval Of Molnupiravir May Create New And More Dangerous Covid-19 Variants
 
I said Omicron first turned up in Namibia but it was Botswana.
 

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Themanbun said:
Unless you're on public transport, then the rule is you must breathe and cough on everyone.
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Bugger, it'd be easier to get everyone from on a train ... no trains in Rye though 🙃 Might try tonights Bingo ;-)
 
Hospital has been as busy as ever.
I reckon its a case of the 2nd and 3rd shots losing their defensiveness and covid still being in the community.
Was down to 3-4 a month ago but now sitting firmly around the 20 mark.
I know a lot more that have had the spicey flu in the past few weeks than I've heard about in the past few months.
 
Hojuman said:
Had the best job in the world for 8 years, only downfall was 2 weeks of nights out of every 10 weeks. Could hardly sleep at all during the day near the end. Ended up resigning sadly ☹
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its only when machines are coming back from major overhaul where my work patterns change, i have been doing it for 20 years but iam finding as i get older its far more taxing.
 
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