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This is why I said you were ignoring my point. I specifically didn’t claim that the virus is “evolving to be less deadly”. My point was that human vulnerabili
by tomhoward 5y ago
This is why I said you were ignoring my point. I specifically didn’t claim that the virus is “evolving to be less deadly”.
My point was that human vulnerability is due to it being novel, and that as more people’s immune systems become attuned to it (whether via contracting the virus, vaccination or being exposed to fragments in the environment), it will become less novel and less deadly to those exposed to it. Therefore, we should still expect the fatality rate to be steady among those who have never been exposed to it, but that will start dropping off quickly as immunity becomes more widespread, which is what we're seeing.
Based on everything we know, a “new” “novel” virus would most likely hit us via a jump from another species, not through continued evolution of this virus.
As for higher fatality rates from B.1.1.7 or other strains - reports about this are contradictory [1], and notably the headlines about it being no worse than other strains are always much smaller/less-prominent that the those trying to terrify us about it being much worse.
[1] https://www.contagionlive.com/view/sars-cov-2-b117-variant-more-transmissible-not-more-deadly https://www.contagionlive.com/view/sars-cov-2-b117-variant-m...