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My (low-information) understanding is that coronaviruses have much lower mutation rates than flu viruses!
by floe 7y ago
My (low-information) understanding is that coronaviruses have much lower mutation rates than flu viruses!
- lbeltrame 7y agoThey have a proofreading RNA polymerase, IIRC, which means that indeed they have a lower error rate than other viruses.
- ebalit 7y agoApparently 30% of cases of the common cold are cause by coronavirus. And the worrying thing is that the immunity we acquire for those is only temporary.
- lbeltrame 7y agoAt this point, I think it's just appropriate to say "we don't know yet". This is a new virus, and not much is known about it yet. And that is why drug development needs to go parallel with a vaccine. If a vaccine fails, we can fall back to drugs to prevent people from going into ICUs (hopefully).
- RivieraKid 7y agoThis is true, the influenza virus contains 8 small strands of RNA, which means that two different influenza viruses can combine to create a novel one.