Your Local Epidemiologist, a WIV lab leak, and Kuff

I extracted one item from the "roundup" work that Off the Kuff does as part of Texas Progressives each week (I do my own additional) to run it separately.

Your Local Epidemiologist weighs in on the so-called "lab leak" debate possibility that there indeed was a lab leak at WIV, not just a "spillover" in one or more of Wuhan's wet markets. Deliberately edited as is to "fix it for Kuff," who still seems to be a #BlueAnon on this issue, which YLE admits may have affected her past thinking, as she notes she has 30 percent room in her mindset for it being more than a "spillover."

First, her comment on probabilities:

In reality, opinions range on a scale from “natural spillover” to “lab leak.” Perspectives fall somewhere within the spectrum of probabilities. I lean more towards natural spillover, but I’m certainly not 100%. (I’m a ~70% given some evidence released last year.) I think everyone should recognize where they land on this spectrum and why. Also recognize there are conflicts of interest all over the place.

Then, her comment on previous mindsets

Many initially dismissed lab spillover because of the original messenger (Trump) and because it was wrapped up in other conspiracy theories, like being a Chinese bio-weapon. (The claim that the virus was engineered is clearly debunked. There’s scientific evidence that it wasn’t an intentional event.) I admit that privately I initially dismissed the idea of a lab leak because of these reasons, which I constantly self-reflect on. As a scientist, I can do better with this noise. We all can. And, we must.

And, having read her before, and read stuff Kuff has submitted by her before, and sometimes having refused to run her, this IS a mental shift that Kuff appears to be trying to bury. Kuff ignores entirely that she even uses the phrase "intentional lab leak." His "so-called," despite YLE giving 30 percent odds on a lab leak, indicates to me that he not only is still wearing BlueAnon goggles, but KNOWS he is, and is even to reframe YLE.

I'll admit that it took me until, I think, the middle of 2021 to be open to the idea myself. And, I'm surprised she's moved this far.

Kuff? I'll be surprised if he moves at all.