Why the U.K. Coronavirus Strain Just Got (Slightly) Deadlier, To Our Surprise
Wasn’t SARS-CoV-2 supposed to become less deadly as it evolves? After all, a dead host is a dead-end for viruses.
Author’s note: A few clarifications have been added at the end of this article.
About a week post-publication, about 250 news outlets have covered the new study showing that people infected with the B.1.1.7 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) strain — first discovered in the U.K. around Sept 2020 and has now spread to over 90 countries — are 64% more likely to die than those infected with prior strains or variants.
This probably comes as a surprise since many of us thought that SARS-CoV-2 would become milder over time. After all, as viruses couldn’t live without a host, a dead host is a dead-end for viruses. So, what’s the point of killing the host quicker? This article will explain why this assumption is not necessarily true and why SARS-CoV-2 just got deadlier.
Although there’s debate on the term usage between strains and variants, this article defines a strain as a viral variant that has evolved a different biological property.
