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1. ericb+(OP)[view] [source] 2021-04-09 15:37:04
On the one hand, yes, many who ask this seem to have something political in-mind, so on that score, I kind of agree that there's no "there" there.

Aside from that, though, we can consider international treaties against gain of function research? International inspections? Have a debate on whether this type of research is allowed? Create improved international procedure standards for Biolab safety?

I mean, it has killed more people than American killed in WW2. Maybe a root cause analysis and better procedures are justified?

edit: corrected stat

replies(2): >>engine+r2 >>endisn+D2
2. engine+r2[view] [source] 2021-04-09 15:46:40
>>ericb+(OP)
You're off by an order of magnitude.

Total deaths in WW2 estimated at approx 70 million. [1]

Johns Hopkins estimates COVID-19 deaths are approaching 3 million. [2]

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

[2] https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

replies(1): >>ericb+e8
3. endisn+D2[view] [source] 2021-04-09 15:47:16
>>ericb+(OP)
> I mean, it has killed more people than WW2. Maybe a root cause analysis and better procedures are justified?

Yes, I agree. However I believe what should be analyzed is why certain countries failed to contain it. Whether it was a lab accident or wild game doesn't really matter. There's no way the entire world could prevent accidents or people from interacting with wild animals.

At the end of the day the most effective thing is to ask why it spread as much as it did in your own country.

There are politicians in our (USA) own country that denounced COVID even as recently as this January. People who fabricated data (Cuomo), who peddled poor science (Trump), etc. etc.

Don't misunderstand me, China definitely deserves their share of the blame, but I just believe that share is small. Ultimately the USA's response to COVID could've been much, much better by pretty much every metric imaginable.

And let's just act like COVID is over, either.

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4. ericb+e8[view] [source] [discussion] 2021-04-09 16:15:10
>>engine+r2
Mis-remembered. Number of Americans who died in WW2.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/02/03/9628119...

replies(1): >>engine+Xa
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5. engine+Xa[view] [source] [discussion] 2021-04-09 16:28:23
>>ericb+e8
Roger that.

Americans killed in WW2: 410,000

Americans killed by Covid: 550,000

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