Very likely both. I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the original strain that China lost control of at the beginning of all this has pretty much fizzled out, and what's still in circulation is a strain that has mutated into something significantly less lethal.
Styx has mentioned several times over the past few months that this is what he feels has happened. I hear it's what happened to Ebola over in Africa, it mutated into something that had a much harder time being a fatal illness.
Rapid mutation is also what you would expect from an artificially designed genome because the design changes would be selected based on function and not genomic stability.
A loose analogy would be like releasing a purbred variety of dog into the wild. Eventually, the eccentric traits will be lost because they're not optimal for real world survival.
Very likely both. I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the original strain that China lost control of at the beginning of all this has pretty much fizzled out, and what's still in circulation is a strain that has mutated into something significantly less lethal.
Styx has mentioned several times over the past few months that this is what he feels has happened. I hear it's what happened to Ebola over in Africa, it mutated into something that had a much harder time being a fatal illness.
Yea, I also head that from Styx and others. A virus that is less fatal to the host also ensures its survival and spread.
Rapid mutation is also what you would expect from an artificially designed genome because the design changes would be selected based on function and not genomic stability.
A loose analogy would be like releasing a purbred variety of dog into the wild. Eventually, the eccentric traits will be lost because they're not optimal for real world survival.