# GE of the coronavirus doesn't make sense

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/ge-of-the-coronavirus-doesnt-make-sense/13382>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Science, Society\
**Created:** [March 14, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/ge-of-the-coronavirus-doesnt-make-sense/13382 "2021-03-14T15:10:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 17

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giltil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Giltil](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Giltil)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/ge-of-the-coronavirus-doesnt-make-sense/13382/17 "2021-03-16T19:20:34Z")

</div>

> [@dsterncardinale](#):
>
> The hard part with GE isn’t picking out one case where it _should_ apply in the future; it’s explaining away all the cases were it _doesn’t_ in the present

Explanations exist for how RNA viruses may have resisted GE.

> [@The new Ebola outbreak weakens an argument often put forward against genetic entropy of RNA viruses](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-new-ebola-outbreak-weakens-an-argument-often-put-forward-against-genetic-entropy-of-rna-viruses/13403):
>
> Bases on theoretical analyses and experimental data, Sanford claims that RNA viruses such as Influenza or Ebola tend to degenerate through genetic entropy during outbeaks. Critics of this thesis often argue that such a thing is impossible because RNA viruses have existed in their natural reservoir for too long. However, this objection only works if the genetic entropy of RNA viruses occurs at the same rate in all hosts and in the various environments in which the viruses exist. But as we have seen in a previous thread ([Influenza may be in evolutionary stasis in its natural reservoir after all](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/influenza-may-be-in-evolutionary-stasis-in-its-natural-reservoir-after-all/13010)), there are evidences that influenza viruses may be subjected to less genetic entropy in their natural biotic or abiotic reservoirs than during outbeaks in humans. Now, new very surprising data from the recent Ebola outbreak in Guinea indicate that the virus may lay dormant in survivors of previous outbreaks, offering a new mechanism by which RNA viruses can resist GE. Guinea\_2021\_EBOV\_Virologic…

---

_[View the full topic](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/ge-of-the-coronavirus-doesnt-make-sense/13382)._