zlacker

>>datafl+(OP)
We don't want to know. That may sound a bit glib but I think it's true. What would be the reaction if we could determine the outbreak was due to an unintentional leak? China cannot reimburse the world for the economic damage covid has caused. It cannot be held accountable for all the lives that have been lost. It cannot compensate the world for the diminished quality of life we've all suffered. But there will be plenty of calls for China to do all of that. If covid is the result of Chinese negligence, the reaction and conflict across the planet over what to do about it is going to be absolutely terrible.

And let's not even begin to think what will happen if there were to be evidence that this was an intentional release.

>>Mounta+Ud
The China aspect is probably a red herring. Gain-of-function research was internationally funded, including by the US. The perils had been pointed out for years by virologists [1], some of whom managed to get an editorial in the New York Times against it [2].

If Covid turns out to be a lab escape (which is a big if), the nation or lab it happened in is just the proximate cause. Deeper responsibility would lie with the institutions and individuals that pushed it despite the risks. No one knows the answer to this (edit: I mean to whether covid escaped from a lab), but it's an open question that deserves credible investigation. Having the investigator be one of the principal funders of the research being investigated is such...bad optics, to put it nicely, that one wonders how anyone thought that would be ok.

[1] https://mbio.asm.org/content/3/5/e00360-12

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/an-enginee...

>>guesst+vf
The article in question (assuming it's the same one I read on his blog) actually does tell us these things. The research was largely funded by the United States and the funding would appear most likely to have been signed off by ... Anthony Fauci. So if that's true then the guy ultimately responsible in money terms is the guy who the government put in charge of fighting it, almost certainly without realising. This set of events ensures that whatever the truth, we can never expect an honest investigation of any kind from the governments (plural) that would appear responsible.