Is the "Why this might be a big deal". Just vibes? I see no references. Where does Genetically engineer variants could have an R0 of 5-12 come from. All the rest of them are just like "if this is bad, it could be bad."

"If it wasn't a big deal, the Russian government wouldn't put much effort into covering it up." Isn't the Russian instinct just cover everything up?

"If there is only one infection, then why quarantine 5 hospitals?"

Because bad to the local community and bad to the world are two different metrics. It could be _real_ bad to the local community, without being threatening globally.

>"Russian equivalent of HHS is now denying there was any accident at the lab at all."

ive seen this movie before

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/faq/ [1] ... 404

So obviously there is nothing to worry about

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague#cite_note-CDC...

Given the choice, most things tend not to be catastrophic. Doesn't mean there aren't catastrophes - there are.

>Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

Surprised Mongolia is not doing the same, seems the City the lab is in is rather close to Mongolia.

But until I read the blog, I felt there are no worries since the lab is in a very remote area.

If we in the US had a functional CCD and still belonged to WHO, I would not care, but now I am a little bit concerned.

Related:

Nearly 200 People Under Observation After Irkutsk Lab Worker Dies from Plague

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960084

Here we go again! 2020 deja vu! Just in time for USA elections.