Why this comment? The very article linked is actually a solid, dispassionate treatment of questions exactly like this. It's not "fear mongering" at all, by any definition I'd be comfortable with. I think the media on the whole is doing a great job here, personally. Is there any particular "fear mongering" you'd like to call out?
Doubtful. The victors write the history. The Church of “If It Saves Even One Life” and “Anti-Lockdown and Anti-Maskers are Murderers” are clearly the victors in this timeline. Your children and grandchildren will be taught about the backwards racists who were willing to sacrifice old people in the name of money, but how the fascist Donald Trump was finally defeated by the forces of democracy and justice and health was restored.
Well, I agree with you on trump but I feel like the people who have to live with the economic reality of all the mom and pop stores never reopening in favor of big international companies wont be very happy with us
My understanding was that because this virus can spread presymptomatically or even asymptomatically, there is little or no evolutionary pressure for it to become less deadly. It can easily spread to many people before the host even knows that they have it. Maybe I'm misunderstanding things, but if that is the case then it would seem that the normal "rules" for the virus becoming less deadly over time don't really apply.
There's also no evolutionary incentive for it to be more deadly either. From the perspective of the virus, it has no incentive to kill its host -- if anything, it would want to keep them alive (and functioning) for as long as possible.
You're right for the short term but (in the hypothetical case it becomes deadlier) once we are aware it has becomes deadlier, our behaviour will change and reduce transmission.