Posted on Jan 15, 2022
Fact check: The theory that SARS-CoV-2 is becoming milder
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/14/ [login to see] /fact-check-the-theory-that-sars-cov-2-is-becoming-milder
There's a growing narrative in the mainstream media, on social media — maybe even at your dinner table. That is: The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is weakening and evolving into a less deadly virus. In the future, each new variant that crops up will cause milder illness than the previous variant.
"There's this story that we're going to have variants that are progressively less severe," says Dr. Roby Bhattacharyya, who's an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
But that's completely untrue, Bhattacharyya says. "It's comforting to think there might be some tendency for SARS-CoV-2 to evolve toward a milder form. That's not what we're seeing here."
There's a growing narrative in the mainstream media, on social media — maybe even at your dinner table. That is: The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is weakening and evolving into a less deadly virus. In the future, each new variant that crops up will cause milder illness than the previous variant.
"There's this story that we're going to have variants that are progressively less severe," says Dr. Roby Bhattacharyya, who's an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
But that's completely untrue, Bhattacharyya says. "It's comforting to think there might be some tendency for SARS-CoV-2 to evolve toward a milder form. That's not what we're seeing here."
Fact check: The theory that SARS-CoV-2 is becoming milder
Posted from npr.org
Medical
Health
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 3
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From article: "Omicron may be a small step back in severity. But it's probably more severe on its own than the original version of the virus," Bhattacharyya says. Becoming "more mild" hasn't been the trend or evolutionary trajectory, he says.
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I don't think the evidence is there in either direction...the science is evolving and the scientists are involved in politics.
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I think there may be evidence in both directions. And truthfully, scientists got involved in the political process and are not to be believed at this point... I think the answer is that the science like the virus is evolving...more to come.
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