4 ms·
> Viruses can't really "adapt" to "not being spread". Of course they can. We have this pandemic because a coronavirus became highly transmissible.
by Skunkleton 6y ago
> Viruses can't really "adapt" to "not being spread".
Of course they can. We have this pandemic because a coronavirus became highly transmissible.
- sjg007 6y agoIt most likely jumped the species barrier.
- sudosysgen 6y agoNot really, no. There is a 99.999% chance that the virus was just as infective if not more in bats or pangolins or whatever, and simply adapted to humans. These mutations are the virus finishing its adaptation to humans. It will eventually end up at a local maxima, just like, say, measles did.
- jerf 6y agoPerhaps I was not clear. A virus can't "adapt" to not being physically presented to its potential host. It can't "adapt" to "being blocked by a mask" or "the person I infected intelligently self-isolating and thus I can't spread any farther". Even if you could hypothetically draw out genetic changes that would permit it, it would require substantial changes to evolve all at once.