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drunkenknight9 t1_jdje7kd wrote

Reply to comment by Alwayssunnyinarizona in What happened to the old COVID variants, like Delta? Could they come back? by number1dork

It's not about the number of cases out there but rather the severity. If everyone is getting covid but no one is getting sick enough to die or need intensive care, there won't be a need anymore for a vaccine. The natural life cycle of any virus is for it to become more infectious and less dangerous to the hosts since that's the best way for the virus to survive. The multitude of viruses that cause the common cold have already undergone that evolution. Influenza is a very unique case because of the structure of the virus that allows recombination among and between strains from different species means novel flu strains can happen any time without much warning and our immunity can be very variable. There are other outliers like HIV but most viruses that have ever infected humans have become relatively inert. A great example of the most extreme form of becoming inert is JC virus which is entirely asymptomatic and inconsequential unless someone is prescribed certain immunosuppressive medications. If you do get put on one of those medications you have to be tested for it otherwise it can reactivate and cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy which is almost universally fatal.

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Matrix17 t1_jdjfvml wrote

The only issue with that approach is long covid is still a thing even in mild cases, and we still don't know enough about how it's caused or the best way to treat it

You can end up with similar issues with any respiratory virus, but covid is unique in that it happens more frequently, is more severe, and covid itself spreads more than the cold, flu, or other common respiratory viruses

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Alwayssunnyinarizona t1_jdjnje1 wrote

>The natural life cycle of any virus is for it to become more infectious and less dangerous to the hosts since that's the best way for the virus to survive.

That's not really true.

>As evidence mounts that the omicron variant is less deadly than prior COVID-19 strains, one oft-cited explanation is that viruses always evolve to become less virulent over time.
>
>The problem, experts say, is that this theory has been soundly debunked.

​

And in my comment, I did not distinguish case numbers vs. case severity. I said "until/unless covid starts to fall below background common cold status." I'm sorry that you read it that way.

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sciguy52 t1_jdk5p46 wrote

> The natural life cycle of any virus is for it to become more infectious and less dangerous to the hosts since that's the best way for the virus to survive.

This is a myth that gets repeated too often. Viruses sometimes become less deadly, sometimes more deadly. And many remained as lethal as always.

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