HomeCOMMENTARYValid Objections to an Independent Investigation of China
Valid Objections to an Independent Investigation of China
May 7, 2020 Pam Barker COMMENTARY, GOVERNMENT, HEALTH, WORLD 0
ER Editor: We are not publishing this piece by Godfree Roberts in the spirit of 'China isn't really responsible for anything and is blameless.' But we are vigorously publishing this in the spirit of 'let's look at our own side first', and there seems to be much that should be examined.
Wuhan is a city of French investment and corporate activity; scientists from all around the world were working at some point at the Wuhan lab; the US and Fauci have invested serious sums of money in it; the French government, where names can be named (Dr. Yves Levy, for example), were intimately involved in this lab, helping to establish it with considerable investment; the lab lists many international organizations as its funding partners. Biowarfare is a key part of the military-industrial complex involving many countries, and nobody has their hands clean, as Dr. Francis Boyle is at pains to point out. But a report we've just published indicates that, indeed, it's looking more likely that the 'virus', whatever it is, however many there are – and there are multiple strains, did not originate necessarily through the Wuhan lab, that it may well have been brought in, and that infections occurring during the time of the Wuhan military games (October 18-27) would precede the first recorded Chinese case in November. That is the way things are looking at this point but, of course, it may change as more evidence comes to light.
See COVID: Why We Need to Pay Very Close Attention to Those Wuhan Military Games.
Roberts' article takes the form of informational points with questions.
We remind readers that the search for Patient Zero is key to understanding the nature of an epidemiological problem.
A question that comes to mind on reading Roberts' report is this: strain A has found to be common among Europeans, of 3 identified strains (B in China, C in Singapore, S. Korean and Taiwan) according to a peer reviewed study. But is France's strain, circulating in different regions, and Italy's the same or different?
Objections to an Independent Investigation of China
GODFREE ROBERTS
Until the CDC releases details of its index case ('Patient Zero') there is no practical or scientific possibility of tracing Covid's origin. Patient Zero, when he arrives, will introduce us to the animal vector that brung him. Question: Why does the US persistently refuse to release its Patient Zero data–despite being bound to do so by its WHO membership?
China has already undergone an independent investigation and the 149-member jury's verdict was unanimous. The jury's American foreman, Dr Bruce Aylward, head of the WHO International Mission said, "In the face of a previously unknown disease, China has taken one of the most ancient approaches for infectious disease control and rolled out probably the most ambitious, and I would say, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history. China took old-fashioned measures, like the national approach to hand-washing, the mask-wearing, the social distancing, the universal temperature monitoring. But then very quickly, as it started to evolve, the response started to change . . . So they refined the strategy as they moved forward, and this is an important aspect as we look to how we might use this going forward. WHO has been here from the start of this crisis, an epidemic, working every single day with the government of China… WHO was here from the beginning and never left. What's different about this mission is it's complementing with a lot of other external experts." Question: why is the US bullying the WHO?
A Cambridge University study suggests that Covid's ancestry suggests a September start (ER: we're not sure why September). Abstract: In a phylogenetic network analysis of 160 complete human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) genomes, we find three central variants distinguished by amino acid changes, which we have named A, B, and C, with A being the ancestral type according to the bat outgroup coronavirus. The A and C types are found in significant proportions outside East Asia, that is, in Europeans and Americans. In contrast, the B type is the most common type in East Asia, and its ancestral genome appears not to have spread outside East Asia without first mutating into derived B types, pointing to founder effects or immunological or environmental resistance against this type outside Asia. Phylogenetic network analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Peter Forster, Lucy Forster, Colin Renfrew. PNAS. Phylogenetic network analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes.
The (American) Fat Lady hasn't sung yet: Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, said the virus might have been spreading quietly in humans for years, or even decades, without causing a detectable outbreak. (ER: someone from the US NIH might be very keen to distance themselves from the made-in-a-lab theory, as demonstrated below.) On April 15, [sic] Collins, a physician-geneticist, is noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1993-2008. Before coming to NIH, Dr. Collins was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Michigan. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007, and received the National Medal of Science in 2009. Like its predecessors, Spanish Flu and H1N1, the virus probably originated in the USA. Every day it seems more doubtful that Covid-19 originated in China. Question: Is Dr. Collins signalling to scientific colleagues that he's in on the scam?
CNN says Coronavirus probably spread in New York last October. CNN host Chris Cuomo said on April 17 he believes there will be revelations showing the novel coronavirus was spreading in the United States as early as October. "The kids now anecdotally, Cristina believes, that at least two of them have had it in the last few months. Why? We don't know, but atypically long-duration sinus, fever, lethargy. I think we're going to learn that coronavirus has been in this country since, like, October, that there have been cases," Cuomo said. "And as you guys both know, and I hear all the time from all over the country, how many people do you hear saying, 'I think I had it, I had this and this, I lost my sense of smell and this and that, but I never got tested'? Those cases are, like, abounding all over the country," he added. Chris Cuomo predicts evidence will show coronavirus was spreading in the US since October.
French researchers found that the dominant types of the viral strains in the country did not come from China. April 24, 2020. French researchers carried out genetic analysis and found that the dominant types of the viral strains in the country did not come from China or Italy. The coronavirus outbreak in France was not caused by cases imported from China, but from a locally circulating strain of unknown origin, according to a new study by French scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Abstract: Following the emergence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China in December 2019, specific COVID-19 surveillance was launched in France on January 10, 2020. Two weeks later, the first three imported cases of COVID-19 into Europe were diagnosed in France. We sequenced 97 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomes from samples collected between January 24 and March 24, 2020 from infected patients in France. Phylogenetic analysis identified several early independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions without local transmission, highlighting the efficacy of the measures taken to prevent virus spread from symptomatic cases. In parallel, our genomic data reveals the later predominant circulation of a major clade (ER: A clade is a grouping that includes a common ancestor and all the descendants – living and extinct – of that ancestor) in many French regions, and implies local circulation of the virus in undocumented infections prior to the wave of COVID-19 cases. This study emphasizes the importance of continuous and geographically broad genomic sequencing and calls for further efforts with inclusion of asymptomatic cases. Introductions and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 in France
Italy suspects it had Covid-19 November, 2019. One of Italy's leading doctors, Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, said March 23 that there were already few cases in Italy of this unknown virus that has been severe for older people in Nov. up to Dec. Remuzzi said that there might be chances that the virus already circulated the world even before China declared an outbreak with the viral disease. "They [general practitioners] remember having seen very strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even November," said him. "This means that the virus was circulating, at least in [the northern region of] Lombardy and before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China." The doctor explained that only these past few weeks, wherein he discovered that there were cases similar to Coronavirus were being treated in the country by various Italian doctors. Italy Discovered 'Strange Pneumonia' Case in November 2019.
(ER: we ask again, is there any genomic relationship between the French and Italian strains?)
Canada's early COVID-19 cases came from the US, not China, provincial data shows. The National Post asked for data on the origins of travel-related cases in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, which have seen the majority of Canada's COVID-19 cases. The global COVID-19 pandemic began in Wuhan, China, but data from Canada's largest provinces show it was American travellers, not Chinese, who brought the deadly virus to our shores. Despite this evidence, the federal government brought in travel restrictions on China first and American border restrictions were the last to be put in place. Canada's early COVID-19 cases came from the U.S. not China, provincial data shows. April 30. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/canadas-early-covid-19-cases-came-from-the-u-s-not-china-provincial-data-shows?video_autoplay=true
French medical authorities find a Coronavirus case from December, 2019. French authorities announced May 4 that the first coronavirus case in France could have occurred a month earlier than official figures suggest, according to a professor from Avicenne Hospital, following the retesting of 24 patient blood samples. Professor Yves Cohen from the Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny said in an interview with local media that it appears that Covid-19 was already in France at the end of 2019 – rather than in January-February 2020 – as had previously been thought. A decision was made to retest 24 samples of blood from patients who were admitted in December with respiratory infections but had tested negative for the flu. Out of the 24 samples retested, one male patient came back positive for Covid-19. "We've reanalyzed all negative tests on people who were diagnosed with pneumonia. Of the 24 patients, we found one who resulted positive to Covid-19 on December 27 when he was taken to our Avicenne Hospital," said Cohen. He confirmed that the patient in question has fully recovered and "is well."First Covid-19 case in France could have been as early as December, new evidence suggests. (ER: see how French athletes may have brought back the virus at the end of October from Wuhan, perhaps brought in to the region by US competitors: COVID: Why We Need to Pay Very Close Attention to Those Wuhan Military Games.)
Why would a medically competent country be investigated by a medically incompetent one? Especially since we know America's independent investigation SOP: "Current and former staff members of the OPCW have denounced the organization's IIT report alleging Syrian government sarin use at Ltamenah, criticizing its reliance on rumor, hearsay, "scientifically flawed" claims and the influence of unqualified, secret "experts" aligned with the Western-backed opposition. If we go by demonstrated competence in this field, shouldn't it be the other way round?"
Godfree Roberts publishes Here Comes China! a weekly newsletter of–you guessed it–good news from China.
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