Marginal Revolution recommended this very readable summary from Nature entitled “Profile of a Killer: The Complex Biology Powering the Coronavirus Pandemic”, about how SARS-CoV-2 works.
I learned quite a few things. Why SARS-CoV-2 is worse than SARS itself (it’s better at getting a foothold in the nose), why SARS was easier to stop (you aren’t contagious until you show symptoms), why that furin site that people keep talking about is important, why a vaccine ultimately won’t be necessary unless we get one and start vaccinating everyone (it doesn’t mutate quickly, so you should get some immunity once infected), where pangolins and bats fit in (and that this thing has been out in the wild for a long time before it found us).
Interestingly, it also mentions that a pandemic in 1890 that was believed to be caused by the flu, may instead have been the first occurrence of one of those other coronaviruses that now just causes colds.
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