Ms. Tayag-

Forgive me, but are you an epidemiologist, or a virologist, or even a trained journalist? Have you read any of the the literature — or even a small cross-section of it?

How about the phylogenetic papers on the evolutionary genomics?

Can you reference the library or existing reseach corpus of the related papers going back to 2003, and cross-reference the peer-reviews, one by one?

No?

How about identifying the problematic identities and nationalities associated with early research on coronavirus in bat reservoirs and the still lingering problems at Wuhan reported by American scientists who were hired to observe the BSL-4 protocols of that lab?

Which papers in Nature, or Lancet, or other periodicals are you referring to specifically?

Which researchers? From what institutions?

What of declassified intelligence reports or the latest scholarship of the same category published in Foreign Affairs, or Intelligence periodicals?

I apologise but you have no business writing about this topic — and I question the temerity of your op-ed style piece that “clears things up” about “ a Wuhan lab.” Why is it that “writers” on Medium do no appreciable, serious research — especially in these matters, and feel they are somehow ordained to proffer an opinion? No, people interested having an educated opinion read voluminous amounts of research before we arrive at conclusions. We don’t read a few articles and pass on a half-baked opinion.

Journalistically, this is plainly irresponsible. Scientifically, it is fool-hardy and dangerous.

First, academic lab science is not a casual pursuit where one posits hard and fast “opinions” to satiate people. Second, BSL-4 labs are require the highest possible level of security measures.

There is no recognized current consensus regarding the origin, presence and release of the virus, nor if the BSL-4 protocols were or were not abided in Wuhan.

We DO NOT HAVE a full picture of what happened in Wuhan.

Nothing has been “cleared up”.

Scientific consensus seems to point at a natural origin, but we do not know that conclusively. Most virologists do believe that is “natural” in origin, but as of yet inconclusive as to the novel variation known as Sars-cov-2 .

Bats are a well known reservoir species for coronaviruses. Bats were also resevoir to SARS and MERS. However, COVID-19 is a novel mutation, never seen before complication of a coronavirus. The science we have right now does not identify the specific, genomic originality of it. None of it’s evolutionary genomics have been unraveled or cleared up permanently. If that were the case we’d be much closer to a vaccine.

The US Intelligence Community, of which I am an independent contractor, is notoriously at odds with Trump, last week announced it was looking into possible scenarios for accidental leakage at Wuhan. Just this morning the FT said the the EU warned China about spreading false propaganda about the Wuhan facility. here are also geopolitical interests at stake for the Chinese and the US that have a measure of influence in the matter. The matter is massively complex — and has not been “unraveled” not even close.

The other issue with you poorly written cover that you make absolutely no mention of is that the real culprit is ACE-2 spike glycoproteins. These are found in bats, and pangolin, but the “zoonotic spillover” that happens, only happens when the intermediary species and humans have a match therof. The furin cleavage site of that protein, located at s1, s2 in the viral genomics is ground zero for the very, specific and deadly genomic mutation that makes COVID-19 what it is. According to most pathologists, there still remains a lot of mystery as to its specific virulence.

I am not a trained virologist, but I am a trained analyst and journalist.

I have read the virology and phylogeny of the disease for my clients, and consulted with various officials, one of who is the head of the G7 Pandemic response team. This has taken weeks. You can look at a smattering of my own research here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KCkQgHzl2b24E-VXVV22JN5yJxe4CTqv

Have you done any of this research before you announce that it has been clearly “unraveled”?

I doubt that highly.