I'd like to think so. But at the same time, I've seen too many outbreaks that ended as abruptly as they began (especially haemorrhagic fevers). It's an unsettling, eerie feeling, but that's how it is. ( #COVID19/ #coronavirus related thread) https://twitter.com/ArthurNonymous/status/1247625544008638464

I am unsure whom I should credit for this analogy, but much like a predator coming out of the jungle, viciously assaulting its prey then moving away again, viruses often enough disappear just as quickly as they appeared.

I've seen this a *lot* with filoviruses: one day, for no good reason, case counts slow to a trickle, a trickle that eventually stops. We don't know why. We can only guess.

One guess is that lethality is not in any pathogen's interest. We're not really enemies – as is evidenced by the fact that most microorganisms are harmless to humans. A virus does not benefit from killing the host – in fact, the very opposite. Dead hosts don't spread.

So the primary evolutionary imperative of viruses (and viral evolution is *fast*, as you know if you've ever gotten the flu despite getting a flu shot), like that of most pathogens, tends towards increased virulence but decreased lethality.

In addition, viruses are not that hardy. They are the ultimate in r-strategy: zero nurture, high replication, low probability of survival. In the long run, humans – the ultimate K-strategists – always outlast r-strategists.

Above all, we have something the virus doesn't. As K-strategists, we're vulnerable in the beginning. We believe all lives are precious. So we #StayAtHome . We *care*, and that's how we outlast an enemy that outnumbers us almost every time. And that's how we win.