Hacker News Reader

Why should it be the same? Why shouldn't it be like its nearest relatives, SARS-1 and MERS? (10% and 50% CFR).

As for the common cold and native Americans, you will need to ask them yourself - my understanding is that the common cold viruses have always been globally widespread. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

View on HN

Because there is a reason they have been given the same name. They belong to the same family of virii. There are studies showing that exposure to one CoV induces immunity to the other.

Here is just one paper around that topic: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34273512/

So you are saying that I should not be afraid of a tiger, because they belong to the same family as the nice pussy cats I see everyday? After all, there is a reason they've been given the same name.

No :) I think that's actually what YOU are saying. You are comparing two virii that we could not observe for long in the wild (The Tigers) with some cat (Sars2). I think we have good evidence after 2 years that Sars2 is much more similar Sars1 and MERS - just from a KPI perspective.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com