Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I know I had it in June 2022.  I tested positive for it.  It's possible I had it other times and was asymptomatic or thought it was allergies.

This is from the NYT today, just if interested:

The case for natural transmission

[img width=498 height=643.391 alt=Red dots on a map show the locations of Covid cases in December 2019. Higher concentration of cases are close to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.]https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/meips/ADKq_NZXKIsOwfntyjor-nVimYCzHURr3iCXgRmrE8HLZ3ebAXdAc-iG96ra9f_1W_RWou402Y1X5Qlg5LyffyHBMkvcDLClCQvuLwJ8vuL052Lu64sP70PkJwTS2xcuxG9LS4KNjymtr9MWn6T4zPKh0IYhk-7Sd-uK1Jdmq7JiDT4WfQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/06/13/briefing/oakImage-1718309482874/oakImage-1718309482874-jumbo.png[/img][/size][/color]

Source: Michael Worobey et al., preprint via Zenodo | By The New York Times

“Strikingly, five of the samples came from a single stall,” my colleagues Carl Zimmer and Benjamin Mueller wrote. That stall appears to have had a history of selling raccoon dogs.

I think there is a third possibility, pretty speculative. 

The Wuhan lab asked animal catchers to deliver some bats from some cave rather distant, and they did.  The bats were infected prior to capture with the zoonotic COVID 19, the catchers became ill and spread the disease.

Intentionally lab-created, synthesized, and distributed as a bio weapon.

Maybe.

Intentionally lab-created, synthesized, and distributed as a bio weapon.

Maybe.

Yes.

The common raccoon dog, also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog to distinguish it from the Japanese raccoon dog, is a small, heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes



For those who don’t have the stomach to watch this kind of video, here is a description of the scenes. The investigation reveals that before the raccoon dogs are skinned alive, they are thrown to the ground with a forceful blow to the head and then bludgeoned with metal rods in attempt to stun the animal. More often than not, the animal’s bones are broken and they are temporarily stunned rather than dead. Many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. The video shows workers on these farms cutting the skin and fur from an animal’s leg while the free limbs kick and writhe. When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile. Reports indicate that some of the animals are still alive, hearts beating for as long as 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.

Prior to their unimaginably painful death, the animals live in the cruelest of conditions as they pace and shiver in outdoor wire cages, exposed to all of the elements—rain, freezing nights, or scorching sun. Not surprisingly, injury and disease are commonplace. Anxiety-induced psychosis leads to self-mutilation, infanticide and other extreme, desperate behaviors.

The Swiss Animal Protection / East-International 2007 report, Dying for Fur—A Report on the Fur Industry in China, informs us that “there are no regulations governing fur farms in China—farmers can house and slaughter animals however they see fit.” Two of the most important laws covering animals in China—the Environment Protection Law and the Wildlife Protection Law—only protect wildlife in the wild. Wild animals in captivity are treated as mere property, resources, or objects. China is one of the few countries in the world without any legal provisions for animal welfare and furthermore, there are no acts banning cruelty in the Chinese legal system.

Based on a survey of U.S. retail outlets many of the mass-marketed fur-trimmed garments carry the “Made in China” label. However, with our globalized market, China-originated fur pelts are disbursed through international auctions prior to being sewn in other countries. Therefore, the final fur product label could read “Made in Italy” or “Made in France,” making it impossible for consumers to know where the fur originates. Furthermore, manufacturing techniques such as dying often deceive shoppers into thinking they are buying fake fur.

Compounding this issue is the fact that Chinese fur farms deal not only in minks, foxes, and raccoon dogs, but domestic cats and dogs as well (some with their companion collars still affixed). The fur’s original species is indistinguishable to the typical end user. All the more reason to be relentless with the message to all who will listen that fur—even if it is “fake”—is a frivolous, unnecessary, and irresponsible purchase that supports animal cruelty in its worst form.

(Reuters) - At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus.

The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines – China’s Sinovac inoculation.


Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. Almost all were created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan #Chinaangvirus – Tagalog for China is the virus.

“COVID came from China and the VACCINE also came from China, don’t trust China!” one typical tweet from July 2020 read in Tagalog. The words were next to a photo of a syringe beside a Chinese flag and a soaring chart of infections. Another post read: “From China – PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine: FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real.”

After Reuters asked X about the accounts, the social media company removed the profiles, determining they were part of a coordinated bot campaign based on activity patterns and internal data.


The U.S. military’s anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of China’s vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China’s shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law.

The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.


The U.S. military is prohibited from targeting Americans with propaganda, and Reuters found no evidence the Pentagon’s influence operation did so.

Spokespeople for Trump and Biden did not respond to requests for comment about the clandestine program.

A senior Defense Department official acknowledged the U.S. military engaged in secret propaganda to disparage China’s vaccine in the developing world, but the official declined to provide details.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the U.S. military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks aimed at the U.S., allies, and partners.” She also noted that China had started a “disinformation campaign to falsely blame the United States for the spread of COVID-19.”

In an email, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has long maintained the U.S. government manipulates social media and spreads misinformation.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/pentagon-ran-secret-anti-vax-campaign-to-undermine-china-during-pandemic/ar-BB1oeXxQ?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=cbd9a62b31b842aaa25ac62e3736356c&ei=32