Viral evolution, Covid-19 and us according to the NY Times.

I am just as tired of covid-19 as many of you are. Most of us are trying to find normal and return to normal activities such as going out to eat, going to the theater, and attending crowded events such as ball games and concerts. Viral evolution will always give us the next variant, as it always has. The flu for instance is a variant from the 1918 pandemic.

On the other hand, some of us are still too scared to do certain things because we are immunocompromised or because we developed covid-19 PTSD. The good news is that we know how many vaccine doses an immunocompromised person may need to get to their proper level of viral immunity.

We have learned more about viruses as a society through this pandemic, about vaccines and natural immunity as well as how we communicate infections than most of us ever wanted to.

Most importantly, we are adapting and learning to live with the covid-19 noise in the background of our lives. Prior to covid-19, we took for granted our immune systems just worked. We now know that we must eat right and be healthy for that system to be optimally effective.

Statistically, we have less to fear from the virus now that many of us have been vaccinated or have had both the vaccine, a milder case of covid with its antibodies as a bonus. Our society has discovered inexpensive treatments that allow us to get through the infection far more safely than when covid-19 first presented itself here while avoiding severe illness and hospitalization.

What will the future look like? The NY Times offers a glimpse into what we know about viruses, about infection, about treatment, and offers some future wisdom offered by scientists.

What the Future May Hold for the Coronavirus and Us

Viral evolution is a long game. Here’s where scientists think we could be headed.

By Emily Anthes Published Oct. 12, 2021

On Jan. 9, 2020, about a week after the world first learned of a mysterious cluster of pneumonia cases in central China, authorities announced that scientists had found the culprit: a novel coronavirus.

It was a sobering announcement, and an unnervingly familiar one. Nearly two decades earlier, a different coronavirus had hurdled over the species barrier and sped around the world, causing a lethal new disease called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The virus, which became known as SARS-CoV, killed 774 people before health officials contained it.

But even as scientists worried that history might be repeating itself, there was one glimmer of hope. Although all viruses evolve, coronaviruses are known to be relatively stable, changing more