GE of the coronavirus doesn't make sense

[thoughtful (Valerie (non-scientist))]

@Rumraket

And I got the impression that some of the Genetic Entropy proponents around here might be suspecting that Genetic Entropy constitutes a good explanation for India’s purported “plummeting COVID-19 cases”, or declines in the rates of deaths and hospitalizations reported in different countries all over the world.

I don’t remember that. For my part, I suggested they may have reached an immunity level where it’s circulating slowly until they reach herd immunity. That may be the case in Florida as well, along with the kind of climate right now the virus doesn’t do well in - we may see a slight summer peak around the country again when everyone is inside with air conditioning.

I don’t think we’ll see the effects of GE for several years. I believe Sanford and Carter were saying the effects weren’t significant for several years, in fact there was a higher second peak with the Spanish Flu, IIRC? Also, coronaviruses mutate more slowly than the flu?

I didn’t feel like commenting on it when I made the thread linked below, but I was sort of curious if anyone would pick up on it… When I read more molnupiravir after seeing the headline, it seemed like the kind of antiviral that Sanford and Carter were advocating would be helpful especially in a pandemic. If it continues to do well in trials, that might be better evidence of GE than anything we’ll see in the immediate future. But that’s only if I understood its mechanism of action correctly. If not, then I’m sure someone will correct me.

Molnupiravir Shows Promise as COVID-19 Therapeutic in Phase 2a Trial

Today’s presentation described findings from the secondary endpoint of reduction in time (days) to negativity of infectious virus isolation in nasopharyngeal swabs from participants with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by isolation in Vero cell line culture. At day 5, there was a reduction (nominal p=0.001, not controlled for multiplicity) in positive viral culture in subjects who received molnupiravir (all doses) compared to placebo: 0% (0/47) for molnupiravir and 24% (6/25) for placebo. Of 202 treated participants, no safety signals have been identified and of the 4 serious adverse events reported, none were considered to be study drug related. In addition to the ongoing clinical studies, Merck has conducted a comprehensive nonclinical program to characterize the safety profile of molnupiravir. This program included assays such as Big Blue and PIG-a designed to provide a robust measure of a drug or chemical’s ability to induce mutations in vivo . Animals were ad…