For Some Reason Scientists in China Have Created a Mutant Strain of Covid with a 100% Kill Rate on Humanized Mice

NY Post - In a Wuhan-esque study, Chinese scientists are experimenting with a mutant COVID-19 strain that is 100% lethal to “humanized” mice.

The deadly virus — known as GX_P2V — attacked the brains of mice that were engineered to reflect genetic makeup similar to people, according to a study shared last week out of Beijing.

“This underscores a spillover risk of GX_P2V into humans and provides a unique model for understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2-related viruses,” the authors wrote.

The deadly virus is a mutated version of GX/2017, a coronavirus cousin that was reportedly discovered in Malaysian pangolins in 2017 — three years before the pandemic. Pangolins, also called scaly anteaters, are mammals found in warm areas of the planet.

All the mice that were infected with the virus died within just eight days, which researchers noted was a “surprisingly” rapid death rate.

This story came across my desk last night as I was laying in bed. Shoutout to Barstool Sports Data Guy Michael Grier. He quote tweeted the article with an astute observation on the matter.

I don't always click on the article in a tweet before forming my opinion. I typically prefer to make rash judgements based off headlines alone. But this particular story piqued my interest. After seeing Grier's tweet, I thought to myself, "Well China must have some reason for doing this. Maybe creating this strain somehow helps create a vaccine. I'm sure there is some legitimacy to this." 

I don't know much about science, but I figured there HAD be some sort of helpful reason for creating a mutant strain of COVID that instantly kills humanized mice. So I read the article. I wish I hadn't.

GX_P2V had infected the lungs, bones, eyes, tracheas and brains of the dead mice, the last of which was severe enough to ultimately cause the death of the animals.

In the days before their deaths, the mice had quickly lost weight, exhibited a hunched posture, and moved extremely sluggishly.

Most eerie of all, their eyes turned completely white the day before they died.

Although terrifying, the study is the first of its kind to report a 100% mortality rate in mice infected by the COVID-19-related virus — far surpassing previously reported results from another study, the researchers wrote.

More importantly, the results of the study do not indicate how it would affect human beings.

Ok… a bit more of the same. That's kind of scary, but still, there MUST be a reason. I know China does some crazy shit, but why would any lab create something that turns humanized mice into white-eyed zombies and kill everything it touches. What the hell is a humanized mouse anyways? Thankfully the NY Post included comments from professionals in the article. Let's see what the medical experts have to say about his research. I'm sure they'll be able to make sense of it.

Francois Balloux, an epidemiology expert at University College London’s Genetics Institute, slammed the research as “terrible” and “scientifically totally pointless.”

“I can see nothing of vague interest that could be learned from force-infecting a weird breed of humanized mice with a random virus. Conversely, I could see how much stuff might go wrong,” the professor wrote on X.

Oh… I see… there's no reason for this. None whatsoever. Nothing that can possibly be gained from this research unless you're a Dr. Evil type of character looking for a way to wipe out the entire human race, or you're gearing up for the mouse Holocaust. Good good good.

But at least we can rest assured that this research is being conducted in a well-controlled environment, right? 

Lmao.. you're so stupid.

“The preprint does not specify the biosafety level and biosafety precautions used for the research,” he continued.

“The absence of this information raises the concerning possibility that part or all of this research, like the research in Wuhan in 2016-2019 that likely caused the Covid-19 pandemic, recklessly was performed without the minimal biosafety containment and practices essential for research with potential pandemic pathogens.”

Rutgers University professor of chemistry and chemical biology Richard H. Ebright backed up Balloux’s concerns in a word: “concur.”

Dr. Gennadi Glinsky, a retired professor of medicine at Stanford, wrote: “This madness must be stopped before too late.”

Oh, sick. So this is exactly how COVID started in the first place. Let's run that back one more time. But this time with higher stakes.

That whole article just got worse and worse. WHAT ARE WE DOING CHINA?! I don't want to make a blanket statement about your country as a whole. I love China. Some of my best friends are Chinese. My dad is Chinese. But to this particular Chinese lab… can you just chill out man? Maybe take a look in the mirror and re-evaluate what you're choosing to spend your time and money on. There simply has to be a better use of your time. What about cancer? We still don't have a cure for that. Dementia is a terrible disease. We could stand to learn more about that. What about the god damn hiccups? Somebody create an instant cure for hiccups. What about fucking off entierly and shutting down your whole shady operation before it kills all of us? Have you considered that? There are so many options. Just do literally anything else other than what you're doing right now. Please China.. please….