Quite!
I’m not familiar with swine flu but you you bet your boots it was British mad cow disease and by “quickly” recognising and isolating the source who knows how may lives were saved. As I have written, this is not a blame game it is about identifying and containing the source. if the source country gets upset about that, then sod them. This isn’t a game of any description.
Maybe not the latter Mary, but certainly the former is the norm.
How does it help? It helps by identifying the source. Probably THE most importent piece of information needed to develop treatments and a vaccine.
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Your thoughts on this article? Btw I am in no way an apologist for China’s many human rights and animal abuses but I strongly believe that by laying the blame at one country’s feet you end up with an isolationist and less productive approach to the problem.
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It’s an excellent article Marijkeh, which raises many difficult and intractable issues that nevertheless need to be addressed swiftly.
But Marijke you still misinterpret my use of the term “China virus”. I don’t know how I can be clearer. I have stated that Trump’s use of the term for populist political ends is despicable. I have also stated that I think Xi Jinping taking umbrage at a statement of fact isn’t helpful. Nobody is blaming China, if this virus had originated in Malawi or New York or Bongo-bongo or wherever to identify it by it place of origin is legitimate and I believe relevant. Anything else is just semantics.
Some, like you and Anna, may be concerned about “blame”, I’m not. Others, including me, are just concerned with accuracy.
As your FT article states, some regimes, such as Xi Jinping’s and Trumps (and indeed to a lessor degree Bojo’s), try to manipulate the truth. Personally I think we need more truth, not less.
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I am interested in your points of view as I see them generally as very robust ones.
But Bongo Bongo? Really?
I guess when it comes to naming the virus I struggle to see it as clearly as you do as for me once a term has been used for populist ends (as with Trump) it ends up muddying the waters considerably.
Naming the virus the China virus now it is a mutating global pandemic is doing so when the horse has bolted so to speak.
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I was accused of being ‘offensive’ when I used the term ‘chinese virus’. Well tough.
I used it as a term of contempt, and disgust, - NOT rascist, because that is how I feel about what china has inflicted on the world.
The chinese deserve our contempt because of
- their record on human rights
- their filthy, and obscene, wet markets
- their slaughter of endangered species
In addition, the chinese knew about this virus long before they informed the rest of the world. What did they do to the doctor who tried to warn the rest of the world ?
What did they do to the journalists who tried to alert the rest of the world ?
The chinese deserve CONTEMPT - and I WILL refer to it as the chinese virus - because that is what it is, it is where it originated (original carrier now believed to have been identified as a worker at the wet market). Anyone who finds my term of ‘chinese virus’ offensive then can I ask exactly WHY is it so offensive these days to tell the truth ?
Anyone who tries to muddy the waters is, as far as I’m concerned, making themselves complicit in everything china has done.
I will not be called rascist or offensive for having strong effing views about this disaster inflicted - by china - on the world.
Please note also that when I use caps for a word it is NOT shouting; it is my handwriting style if you like. It is not shouty but merely emphasising certain points, rather than using bold or the prissy mimsy underlining.
YOU WANT SHOUTY - THIS IS SHOUTY. See the difference ? I type fast, using caps is adding light and shade to a post, rather in the way that one does in a conversation; or are we all robotic talkers these days ? Just accept my caps for what they are - which is not shouty , and just see it for what it is - normal, conversational light and shade.
And please note that I support very many animal charities around the world, and have done so for years. I know full well what our parasitic species has done to this planet, and I rather think the planet and animals would be glad to see the back of us.
According to reports the chinese have reopened their wet markets again; so expect yet another virus, some time soon, from china - which we can name - in full - chinese virus Mk 2. The international scientists are warning that there WILL be another one of these, from china, again, quite soon. Get the feeling we’ve seen nothing yet - there’s worse some time in the future. Mother nature taking her revenge on us, and serve us right.
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Irony Marijkeh 
You might enjoy the attached…
It’ll be a bizarre turn of events if a disease that originated in China forces the rest of the World to adopt their citizen surveillance methods. Who would have guessed that a few short weeks ago?
I still have difficulty believing this is happening. IMHO the damage, human and economic, could easily outweigh that of WWII.
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AND WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND CAN ARGUE WITH THAT?
All humanity.
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I think your post is offensive so I will mute this thread. You seriously think that is intentional! I was appalled when Trump used the words China Virus for his petit reasons to distract the world from seeing his lack of preparedness.
Thread un-muted just to say - had you simply stated that you were referring to China Virus because that is where is was first discovered is difficult to argue with - but all of the rest of your comments show that you are fully contradicting yourself.
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Compassion, like the rest of humanity.
PS I flagged your post - not because it is offensive; it is but one should not shy away from being offended.
However I suspect it will fall under the definition of inciting racial hatred, which is illegal.
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Ironic? Most of the world’s protective gear comes from China.
I find it a bit disconcerting that several countries have returned masks and testing kits to China as they were either faulty or below the required standard.
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Quality is a concern of course, but shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Mass produced goods are what they are.
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Yes graham, a piece of positive news. If it passes the tests, they can make a 1000 a day ?
Reading between the lines, they say the equipment can be used on patients that need something but not the full blown ventilators.
In doing so, would surely save ventilators for the most needy; stop (if they have enough) those who need ventilators being chosen for who lives or not.
Save people from being unnecessarily sedated, and need less stringent care? thus releasing staff to those that do.
Oh wow, just read part way down “The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has already given its approval for their use.”.
The report i saw first thing this morning in the Guardian did not say that. A more recent version, gives a little more background.
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I think that all countries which have markets for animal species that should be left in the wild should be made to change their behaviour, whether or not it is their culture.
I am not prepared to see the appalling suffering now at large in the world just because some people want to eat bats!
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@muyixiaoPhoto from Douban of a menu at #Wuhan Huanan Seafood Market. Don’t know when it was taken, but they sell all kinds of wild animals incl. live wolf pups & palm civets. 2nd photo taken after outbreak discovered shows this storefront (3rd left) covering word “野 (wild)” in its name.
