The Wuhan Virus: What’s In A Name?

Littlechild@emperorsnuclothes.com/ March 20, 2020/ Uncategorized

They have all marched to the tune. The World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and the national and international media have all fallen into lock step. The Chinese Communist Party demanded that the the world expunge all references to China when referring to the virus that originated there and is now ravaging the globe. And, like guilty little children, the world has complied! The “Wuhan Virus” was, rather surreptitiously, transitioned into “COVID-19” (the preferred World Health Organization term) or “Novel Corona Virus” (the term preferred by the Chinese government). The new appellation is designed, of course, to shift attention (and blame) away from China. The question arises, however, whether we SHOULD go along with this subterfuge, avert our eyes, and dilute the opprobrium that rightfully rests upon the shoulders of China?

Many viruses and other communicable diseases have been named for their place of origin:

•The Russian Flu (1977)
•The Spanish Flu (1918)
•The Norwalk Virus (Norwalk, Ohio, 1972)
•Lyme Disease (Lyme, Connecticut, 1975)
•West Nile Virus (1927 and 1999)
•Mid East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS (2012).

So, the use of a viral name that references China is not without precedent. Such reference to China, however, will, it must be conceded, engender criticism of that country, so the next question that arises is whether or not that’s appropriate. After all, viruses are a fundamental part of nature and are not unique to China or, for that matter, anywhere else. In fact, viral processes are known to have played an essential role in cellular evolution. Without the genetic reassortment produced by viruses, evolution on earth may have taken much longer, so it could be rightly said that we owe our existence here and now as advanced multicellular organisms to the existence of viruses.

Further, some might say that casting a harsh light on China at the present time serves no useful purpose (thanks KJM).

In my view, however, there are valid reasons to continue to emphasize China’s culpability.

First, consider WHY China seems to have SO many eruptions of major communicable diseases. In addition to the Wuhan Virus, there was bird flu (avian influenza, H5N1) in 1996 and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, another corona virus, SARS-CoV) in 2002. The answer is simple: throughout much of the country, medieval agrarian methods and bizarre culinary practices (amazingly, 10-20 million DOGS are raised and slaughtered as FOOD every year in China (source: Wikipedia) continue up to the present day. The rural Chinese often live in close quarters with their animals and don’t bother with proper hygiene. Their dietary practices are also suspect. For example, one of the putative sources of the Wuhan Virus is said to be the pangolin (anteater). They EAT pangolins in China, and, in fact, SELL them in markets. It is a fully accepted tenet of the science of virology that many viruses originate in animal populations and mutate to strains that then attack humans. It’s clear that China must dramatically change their animal husbandry and dietary practices and bring them into the 21st century. Until they do, periodic communicable pandemics will continue. Hopefully international criticism engendered by the China related nomenclature will motivate them to do so.

Second, China’s response to the epidemic was criminally negligent. Not only did they fail to take necessary and appropriate steps to contain the virus when it was identified, they did every thing they could to hide the disease. They coerced all of the original “whistleblowers”, some of whom were doctors, to recant their warnings and sign affidavits in which they admited that they were “mistaken” about the virus and that they were wrong to issue the warnings. Continued focus on the Chinese origin of the virus might shame them into better decision making in the future.

Third, China has promulgated misleading and outright false information concerning the virus, and CONTINUES to do so. Their published numerical tracking of the disease’s statistics (both cases and fatalities) continuously under reports (their numbers have been challenged by numerous commentators and, also, some medical experts). Just yesterday, for example, China reported NO NEW CASES of corona virus FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. Aside from the great unlikelihood of such a claim, there are reports from citizens belying it. There are current pictures of long hospital lines of people OUTSIDE of hospitals waiting to GET IN. There are also current photos and videos showing the construction of makeshift hospitals and quarantine redoubts in sports stadiums and other facilities. One such converted facility, a six story former hotel that was repurposed as a corona quarantine hostel, collapsed due to the weight of overcrowding, killing hundreds. China’s erroneous reporting delayed the world’s recognition of the severity of the disease thereby diminishing the ability to combat it. In addition to false tracking, China has deliberately withheld important clinical information about the disease. As far back as December, Chinese scientists knew that the disease was transmissible from human to human, but the government continued, publicly, to maintain that the disease only spread from animal to human. Apparently, China must be SHAMED into honest assessment and reporting of communicable diseases arising in their country. Continued focus on the Chinese origin of the pandemic will, hopefully drive this point home.

Fourth, in addition to skewed reporting of tracking data, China is now engaged in a campaign of DELIBERATE disinformation. Incredibly, China is now trying to convince the world of WHAT A GOOD JOB they did with managing the virus. On March 10 CNN reported: “China wants to take a victory lap over its handling of the corona virus.” (!) And, not only that, recent communications from the Chinese government have implied, get this, that corona virus was CREATED IN THE UNITED STATES AND BROUGHT TO WUHAN BY THE UNITED STATES ARMY!!! Not only does this type of subterfuge damage their credibility, it threatens international cooperation in combating the disease, and stresses what ever limited international harmony there is on earth. Hopefully, continued focus on the Chinese guilt in this pandemic will convince them that their deception is counterproductive and that, ultimately, the world won’t be fooled.

Fifth, I saved one more consideration until last because that consideration is less certain that the other points listed above. Although it’s not certain, it is POSSIBLE that the Wuhan Virus is not a naturally occurring disease. In other words, it was created in a Chinese laboratory doing viral research (medical, military, or both) and, inadvertently, was allowed to escape containment. The fact that the first cases of the disease were known to be linked to a marketplace that is located only three miles from a LEVEL FOUR VIROLOGY LAB is, in my view, too much of a coincidence to have occurred solely by chance. World wide pandemic viruses are, thankfully, rare, and level four virology labs are VERY rare (the Wuhan lab is the ONLY one in the entire country), so the close juxtaposition of the two completely by CHANCE would seem to be very, very, very unlikely. Further supporting this theory is that it is KNOWN that the laboratory in question WAS working on SARS type viruses (also of the corona type). Despite these very valid suspicions, I don’t imagine that we will ever see acknowledgement of such by China, but world wide recognition of this possibility might coerce the Chinese government to eliminate or tone down its corona and bioweapons research or, at the very least, tighten its safety protocols.

So, in summary, there are very good reasons to use the original term “Wuhan Virus” to describe the current pandemic thereby keeping up the heat on China. So, ladies and gentlemen, “Wuhan Virus” it is! Or, even better, is another name that’s being used by some: CCP Virus (“Chinese Communist Party Virus”)! That should get their attention.