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Nearly 200 people under observation after Irkutsk lab worker dies from plague

229 points · 208 comments · ericmay

  1. robmusial · · focus · HN ↗
    I literally just finished Annie Jacobsen's book 'Biological War: A Scenario' last week where the central plot point is an accidental release of modified form of pneumonic plague from a lab in Siberia. Very coincidental timing, especially since it made me wonder how often labs like these have accidents and we never hear about them because it is cleaned up without issue.
    1. petcat · · focus · HN ↗
      > made me wonder how often labs like these have accidents and we never hear about them because it is cleaned up without issue.

      Did anyone ever confirm if the lab in Wuhan China was the originator of COVID? I remember that was a rumor but never heard if there was anything to it.

      1. lumost · · focus · HN ↗
        I recently heard a scientist use a phrase something along the lines of “when two extraordinarily improbably events occur together, there is probably a connection”.

        We’ll never know if the lab in Wuhan originated the virus. But it is awfully strange that the first patients of a novel pandemic coronavirus were workers at a lab conducting gain of function research on coronavirus.

        1. aliljet · · focus · HN ↗
          Were they first patients?
          1. jijji · · focus · HN ↗
            Well, according to some reports, the first reported incidents happened in November 2019 and the months prior, from people who worked at Wuhan Institute of Virology (according to US government sources) [0]. Those people were: Ben Hu, Yu Ping, Zhu Yan.

            [0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.public.news&#x2F;p&#x2F;first-people-sickened-by-covid-19" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.public.news&#x2F;p&#x2F;first-people-sickened-by-covid-19

            1. soganess · · focus · HN ↗
              Not according to them and this little-known publication called &quot;Science.&quot; I&#x27;ve never heard of it, but seems legit:

              <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.science.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;article&#x2F;ridiculous-says-chinese-scientist-accused-being-pandemic-s-patient-zero" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.science.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;article&#x2F;ridiculous-says-chin...

              1. jijji · · focus · HN ↗
                yes of course they all denied ever being sick in November 2019. China even denied that the wet market was the original source of infection. China also disputed any claims that they practiced &quot;gain of function&quot; research at all at WIV, even though that was uncovered by the recent evidence presented in Congress against Anthony Fauci, who funded the whole thing in the first place.
                1. soganess · · focus · HN ↗
                  Yes, of course, the absence of evidence is always evidence of a cover up.
                  1. Fricken · · focus · HN ↗
                    I first came across a news item about a mysterious outbreak and lockdown in Wuhan on November 2019. In February 2020 I went looking for that news item and couldn&#x27;t find it. I had also done a bunch of reading online about Level IV biolabs and gain-of-function research, and that information had changed too. So maybe I&#x27;m crazy. Or maybe not.
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