I& #39;d like to think so. But at the same time, I& #39;ve seen too many outbreaks that ended as abruptly as they began (especially haemorrhagic fevers). It& #39;s an unsettling, eerie feeling, but that& #39;s how it is. ( #COVID19/ #coronavirus related thread) https://twitter.com/ArthurNonymous/status/1247625544008638464">https://twitter.com/ArthurNon...

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& #39;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& #39;t know why. We can only guess.

One guess is that lethality is not in any pathogen& #39;s interest. We& #39;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& #39;t spread.

So the primary evolutionary imperative of viruses (and viral evolution is *fast*, as you know if you& #39;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& #39;t. As K-strategists, we& #39;re vulnerable in the beginning. We believe all lives are precious. So we #StayAtHome https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">. We *care*, and that& #39;s how we outlast an enemy that outnumbers us almost every time. And that& #39;s how we win.