The Curious Case of Dominic Dwyer & SARS-1

A standard intro for Dwyer is:

ABC: An Australian scientist with direct experience in dealing with an outbreak of this type, is Professor Dominic Dwyer, who worked with the WHO on SARS.

Dwyer published SARS papers with Chinese researchers, he was a SARS WHO investigator around the time it twice escaped from a Beijing lab.

Let’s forget the conspiracy theories for a moment re your proximal origin to those lab-leaks - but bare-bones we can agree:  you’re a world-leading expert on SARS-1, right?  Indeed, you embrace the mantle of international expert, and trade off your experience with SARS to support the case that a lab-leak was extremely unlikely.

Your alternative truth:  SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, most likely arose in bats, and then spread to humans via an as-yet unidentified intermediary animal.

This conclusion is based on an oft-repeated premise:

Dwyer: (Timestamp 0:00) Well look uhm - that’s always been the pattern of the spread of these viruses you know from bats from some sort of animal into humans - it happened with SARS, it’s happened with MERS ... uhm … so therefore uhmm ... that’s always been the pattern .. you know - from bats from some sort of animal into humans.

I’m detecting a pattern, Dom, of behaviour by scientists who’ve built careers out of collaborating with CCP-run institutions - but let's stay on point. For the record, your premise is:

Covid has a natural zoonotic origin because it’s always been the pattern - from bats - some sort of animal into humans - just like SARS and MERS - whilst pushing any meaningful conclusion back into the never-never:

Dwyer: (O)rigins - studies of diseases - those sorts of studies can take many many years (many many billions in public money).

(Even then) we may never find virus zero. .. Same with SARS - it took 10 or 15 years before the causative sort of virus in animals was found - so it can take time.

So Dominic, SARS expert-extraordinaire, what was it? 10 years? Or 15? They’re quite different numbers. And what was this causative sort of virus in some sort of animal exactly?  Or you really don’t know?

This is the curious part - considering you’re a world-leading expert on SARS - it all sounds terribly vague.  But from this vague premise you then claim:

Dwyer: There is evidence that suggests the virus jumped from a natural reservoir, such as bats, to an intermediary animal host, possibly triggering an outbreak among animals in the Wuhan wet market.

For perspective, the above quoted interview was conducted on May 28, 2021.  All the fattest rats jumped ship two months prior - Tedros, Fauci, then the whole effluent of experts sludged their way off to reconfigure themselves - but not you.  It’s admirable in a way - you and Eddie are good Aussies, right?  Sticking by your (CCP) mates when they’re down?

Last chance Dominic:

ABC: (0:00) Professor Dwyer, thanks for joining us - you’ve been to the Wuhan institute of Virology - do you still think it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ it escaped from there?

Dwyer (0:10):  Look, I do .. I mean we have many other viruses that have clearly gone from bats into animals into humans .. it happened with SARS, it's happened with MERS.

There it is - straight from the expert's mouth for the umpteenth time.  So if we can agree that your premise, it’s always been the pattern from bats to animals to humans is false, then we can deduce that your conclusion is false.  Sound fair?  Let’s take a look at SARS first.