By LINDA BOYLE
Having just finished five years of hell from the last coronavirus go around, Dr. Zheng-Li Shi, the same Wuhan Institute of Virology bat lady, published a paper in CELL titled, “Bat-infecting merbecovirus HKU5-CoV lineage 2 can use human ACE2 as a cell entry receptor.” Remember, she worked in the lab where the Covid-19 either escaped or was intentionally released.
The new variant Shi ”discovered” is called HKU5-CoV-2. This virus is closely related to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS.
MERS is a deadly virus—killing about 35% of those infected. At present, MERS is pretty much contained in countries near or on the Arabian Peninsula. According to the CDC, there is minimal risk to the United States in contracting MERS. Most people who died from MERS had at least one underlying medical condition. The mode of transmission is primarily from contact with camels — and I don’t mean the tobacco kind!
HKU5-CoV-2 however, can potentially spread more easily to humans than its relative, MERS. Tests on this virus show it infiltrates human cells the same way as Covid-19. It binds with human nasal ACE2 receptors, as does the common cold virus.
Dr. Shi stated this newly “discovered” virus poses a higher risk to humans, either through direct contact or through an intermediary. She concluded “it remains to be seen whether this new discovery will cause any disease in humans.”
Let me refresh your memory. Dr. Shi was directly involved with the lab leak “theory.” Shi oversaw the Wuhan lab where the Covid-19 leak occurred.
Last December a two-year US congressional investigation into the covid-19 pandemic concluded the “weight of the evidence” suggests a lab leak was responsible for the spread of the Covid virus.
Let’s remember that this is the lab the United States government paid for gain-of-function research using EcoHealth Alliance grant money. You paid for this research with your tax dollars.
The Department of Health and Human Services officially cut off all funding to EcoHealth Alliance and its former CEO Dr. Peter Daszak and barred it from obtaining any more grants for five years. The decision was made based on the Congressional Oversight report and the fact that Daszak and his group were facilitating gain-of-function research at WIV.
Remember, too, that the Wuhan lab is a level four biosafety facility, the highest level. Laboratories at this level deal with the most dangerous pathogens and must have the highest level of containment for these pathogens to prevent a leak from occurring.
In 2020, Business Insider published an article taken from the Washington Post. That article demonstrated U.S. officials were highly concerned about possible safety breaches at the WIV with bat research as early as 2018.
The Post went on to say these officials “warned that sloppy safety protocols for handling contagious viruses in the lab “represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.”
We may have stopped funding this gain-of-function research, but that hasn’t stopped the research from occurring. Dr. Shi’s team continues to do dangerous coronavirus research at WIV. She published a paper in Nature where she gleefully shared how the team has built the first “customised” coronavirus “receptors.” This would allow scientists to alter viruses so they can infect different species, including humans.
I really hate deja vu moments. With this new virus “discovered” in a lab that has poor safety standards, I fear the worst. And I see they are already trying to blame the poor pangolin should this virus escape.
I am hopeful however that the US won’t take such draconian measures as it did with Covid-19. May we take a deep breath and if needed, come up with common sense approaches that won’t completely shut down our economy and threaten our individual personal freedoms.
We cannot stand another masking scheme.
We cannot stand another six-foot social distancing farce.
We cannot stand to let our relatives die alone in a hospital.
We cannot stand to have our economy locked down.
We cannot stand to have our precious children lose their education.
We cannot stand to be lied to by our government.
Only time will tell.
Linda Boyle, RN, MSN, DM, was formerly the chief nurse for the 3rd Medical Group, JBER, and was the interim director of the Alaska VA. Most recently, she served as Director for Central Alabama VA Healthcare System. She is the director of the Alaska Covid Alliance/Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom.