Mutations in Coronavirus

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

@glipsnort

@Dale

(maybe more easily aerosolized)

Not that we know of. It invades cells more easily.

Yeah, after I wrote that, it didn’t seem to make much sense.

[glipsnort (Steve Schaffner)]

@mitchellmckain

Could it be that the reasons why you have this “inoculum effect” is not because the actual numbers of viruses you are exposed to is so important but rather the higher likelihood of being exposed to a particularly virulent version of the virus when you are exposed in higher amounts.

I really doubt it. I can only see that working if the more virulent version were selected for within a host but selected against overall (possibly because it makes people too sick). But in that case I would expect to see the same mutation cropping up in sequencing many times, and we don’t really see that.