COVID-19 is currently playing the role of the villain in a very depressing film adaptation based off of the year 2020. However, while researching the evolutionary history of COVID-19 as a virus that spread via a zoonotic event, I came across an interesting point brought up by Dr. David Graham on his blog that made me think about this virus a bit differently. He mentions, along the lines of evolutionary medicine discussed by Nesse and Williams, that the virus does not benefit if its host dies, especially if the host dies quickly without spreading to other hosts. It can then be assumed that this virus is in its "early stage" of human infection and that once the strains of coronavirus die out that are more virulent than others, only the less virulent viruses will remain. This is one assumption that may not pan out as positively as he, or we, would hope but it is interesting to think about how it is a possibility that COVID-19 will one day be just as omnipresent as the common cold: widespread but not nearly as dangerous or deadly.
-Alexis Williams, potluck 4/14/20
https://www.fiphysician.com/what-is-the-goal-of-covid-19/
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