Coronavirus variants contradict the predictions of genetic entropy proponents

[Giltil (Gilbert Thill)]

@Chris_Falter

@thoughtful

What if it’s just out in the environment?

So I did a quick Google search, and here’s what I found: Viruses degrade at various rates, depending on the virus and the conditions.

The flu virus can stay active on some surfaces for up to 48 hours, according to the CDC.

The Ebola virus can survive on doorknobs and countertops for several hours.

The norovirus can survive up to four weeks on surfaces, said Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology and immunology at The University of Arizona.

But years or even months? Nah.

Not only months or even years, but thousands of years!
For example, see this:

Persistence of Avian Influenza Viruses in Various Artificially Frozen...

Or this post by @RonSewell

Influenza may be in evolutionary stasis in its natural reservoir after all

I agree that the idea of abiotic preservation cannot be just summarily dismissed. Not specifically influenza, but here is a paper surveying findings relevant to idea that microbes might survive long periods of freezing: Future threat from the past The remarkable finding of an ancient virus: Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology And some popular level articles: BBC - There are Diseases Hidden in Ice SciAm - As Earth Warms, the Diseases That May Lie within Permafrost Become a Bigger Worry Vox - Melting permafrost in the Arctic is unlocking diseases The permafrost pandemic: could the melting Arctic release a deadly disease?