Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19

Since the time from infection to death from COVID-19 is typically about three weeks, the virus likely arrived in the Bay Area in the middle of January, roughly when Patient Zero arrived in Seattle. And since Dowd had not been to China herself, this meant that community transmission had already begun.

The COVID vaccines, especially in the rapidity of their creation and testing, have been one of the greatest triumphs of modern science. And yet in some ways we seem little better off than we were in the Middle Ages, seeking medicines (including COVID antivirals) largely by trial and error, and having to hope that, if we’re infected, our god or blin

In terms of evolutionary biology, the virus has had what is known as an “ecological release.” This refers to the expansion of range and the population explosion that occurs when a species is freed from constraints it previously faced. The typical example of this is invasive species introduced by humans such as the cane toads that overwhelmed Austra