General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Updated - Reuters: New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says [View all]Rstrstx
(1,392 posts)That the entire virus in the country spontaneously mutated and now the only thing spreading in the country is a less lethal form of it? To do that would require two things: 1 - that a new strain has in fact become less deadly and 2 - that this new strain transmits vastly more readily than the old strain, so much so that it overwhelmed the original virus in the country in the span of a couple of months.
The alternative explanation, which makes more sense to me, is that when people are contracting the virus now they're getting lower doses of it and reacting less severely because of the rise of so-called NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions). That would be things like social distancing, frequent cleaning, face masks, making sure your immune system is working better, taking vitamins/supplements, getting adequate rest, etc. Those should help people get a head start against the virus if it hits them. Also doctors are surely better able to treat people now than they were two months ago.