It’s important to note that the rise of increased virulence runs exactly counter to the bogus claims by Hoover’s Richard Epstein and others (hoover.org/research/coron…) that the virus would rapidly evolve less virulence. Evolutionary biologists knew better.
https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1356361120840175616
Then as now, the best way to prevent the spread of more deadly or more virulent strains is to mask up, maintain social distance, and vaccinate. Keep restaurants closed, keep schools closed, pay people to stay home.
Herd immunity and vaccines can be evolved around in ways that masks and quarantine can’t. We can deploy better vaccines as new strains dominate. But most of the US has massive community transmission. It’s a breeding ground for new strains.
And if anything, pulses of lockdown followed by reopenings just encourage the evolution of more robust strains.
Whether or not you’re vaccinated, keep wearing a mask, keep working from home, keep limiting your out-of-house activities. The virus can’t evolve around that. (Though beware of Orgel’s Second Rule: "Evolution is cleverer than you are.")
Now is not the time to be clever. Don’t do half-doses or use untested combinations of different vaccines or whatever. Wear a mask, stay home, get vaccinated, then wear a mask and stay home some more. Save lives.
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