Originally Posted by Richard Davis
Well here's a clue for you. Take note because this is informative.
The ones with a question mark, which I IMMEDIATELY answer myself would be rhetorical. Does that make sense to you?
And your clever move to pick the question about "where do the kids go and you answered "home" was neat, but it was a dodge because you saw the very next question.
I'll ask you again, since you want to pretend to be obtuse.
Now Jim B. stated in a thread here earlier that THIS virus is SO dangerous because it is something we've never seen before.
Ok, the FLU last year MUTATED 17 different times.
Permit me to reiterate that fact, so it sinks in. The regular Flu MUTATED 17 different times just last year alone!
So Jim what is your response to that?
The coronavirus has been around for CENTURIES. The common cold IS a Coronavirus. SARS is a Coronavirus, MERS is a Coronavirus.
There you go. I hope you don't have to "answer in a later thread" because you need the input from others here
I'll wait.
Is this your question:
Why is the risk from seasonal flu less than the risk from Covid-19, given that the seasonal flu mutates all the time?
Assuming that is your question, the answer is that the human species and the seasonal flu have co-evolved for thousands of years. Yes, RNA-based viruses mutate a lot. This is why we have to develop a new flu shot each year. Sometimes the vaccinations work, sometimes we miss the target. It is our fate to be susceptible to colds and flu each year.
In most years the mutations in the seasonal flu are significant enough that you can catch the flu "again" but minor enough that it's R
0 and lethality are about as expected. So the health care system is not overwhelmed.
Covid-19 is new, it probably came to humans from bats. We have no evolutionary resistance to this virus, so it is particularly dangerous and therefore can overwhelm the health care system. The other coronaviruses that cause the common cold have been with us for thousands of years. Interestingly, the evolutionary pressure on a virus is to make it less lethal. Because of this, no one dies from a cold, unless they are already very sick I suppose.
New strains of influenza can cross over from animals too, and when they do, it is extremely dangerous. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
In summary, we, as a species, have adapted to certain viruses that have been with us for a long time, like the seasonal flu and the common cold. These RNA viruses mutate enough that we can catch them over and over again, but natural selection forces evolution of these long-term viruses away from lethality. New viruses, on the other hand, crossing over from animals to humans for the first time, are
extremely dangerous because we have no evolutionary history. Covid-19 is probably not that dangerous for bats.
I can link some articles if you like, but I can't personally answer your question any better than this.
Jim
