[HN Gopher] Scientists traced a mysterious Covid case back to si...
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       Scientists traced a mysterious Covid case back to six toilets
        
       Author : cachecrab
       Score  : 65 points
       Date   : 2024-03-24 19:00 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.technologyreview.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.technologyreview.com)
        
       | mitchbob wrote:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20240324201541/https://www.techn...
        
         | sergioisidoro wrote:
         | I made the mistake of clicking the original link. Needed to
         | close no less than 4 pop ups to read the article.
         | 
         | How is this acceptable design nowadays, and how are we still
         | tolerating this?
        
           | tetris11 wrote:
           | Firefox+UBO, no issues at all. Also I recommend others
           | downvote both of us so that we don't distract from the
           | content.
        
       | banana_giraffe wrote:
       | Freakanomics recently did an episode on this:
       | 
       | https://freakonomics.com/podcast/water-water-everywhere-but-...
        
         | greazy wrote:
         | And the preprint
         | https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.28.22281553v...
         | 
         | Edit: this pre print is from more than a year ago! It was just
         | published in Lancet
         | https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5...
        
       | egberts1 wrote:
       | I remember researching then writing about the primary methods of
       | RNA-based virus dispersal:
       | 
       | 1. Methane (meat-packing plant, migrant fruit pickers)
       | 
       | 2. Chlorine (swimming pool, drinking water)
       | 
       | 3. Vinegar (cooking areas)
       | 
       | 4. Complex Biomass (mucus, cough)
       | 
       | Anything to foster an aerosolized targeted-pH air.
        
       | jna_sh wrote:
       | I was really hoping this would be the Ohio cryptic lineage, which
       | was being tracked by the same team
       | https://x.com/SolidEvidence/status/1665444603829407746?s=20
        
       | BrandonMarc wrote:
       | Rather abrupt end to the article. Lots of ethical questions left
       | unanswered .... which i guess is the point.
        
       | jackfoxy wrote:
       | I would feel we live in a much better world if virologists were
       | allowed to trace back deadly viruses to individuals like this and
       | they were prohibited from doing gain of function research,
       | including any of their shell games whereby they cop deniability
       | that they are indeed engaged in gain of function.
        
         | j16sdiz wrote:
         | I would feel we live in a much better world if CIA can
         | masquerade as virologist which is allowed to take DNA samples
         | with nasal swab.
        
           | pstrateman wrote:
           | calm down Mr bin laden
        
       | flybrand wrote:
       | > could it mean that the massive covid infection in the gut
       | didn't show up on a nasal swab?
       | 
       | Shouldn't they have known that beforehand? Isn't that a big red
       | flag in this entire endeavor?
        
         | HarHarVeryFunny wrote:
         | Covid is supposedly a respiratory tract infection, so who'd be
         | expecting it to only show up in the gut? It seems they still
         | don't know whether that is in fact the explanation.
        
       | rain_iwakura wrote:
       | I'm honestly of the opinion that all of the ethical questions
       | that arose during this search are fairly minuscule compared to
       | the potential findings that could help us end this never-ending
       | outbreak altogether. (At least by developing better targets for
       | drugs like Paxlovid, if their hypothesis about GI tract
       | replication turns out to be correct.)
       | 
       | Of them all the potential to reveal that the patient X is hiding
       | their HIV status is probably the biggest tragedy that can happen,
       | since it will compromise their social and work standing due to
       | stigma. If, however, this person does NOT know they have HIV or
       | something similarly immunocompromising, it's in fact their moral
       | prerogative to find this person and inform them of their disease,
       | instead of beating around the bush trying to go easy on their
       | feelings instead of potentially saving their life.
       | 
       | Either way, at some point it becomes a question of common-good vs
       | individual good and these options aren't so bad to even have this
       | debate.
        
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       (page generated 2024-03-24 23:00 UTC)