[ceejayoz]

> They’ve been tested, told to isolate...

If there's one thing we've learned in this pandemic, it's definitely that people will follow that sort of instruction perfectly.

I know people who didn't disclose COVID symptoms to avoid missing work and gatherings, and people already stop taking antibiotics early in the course because they're already feeling a lot better.

[thehappypm]

Still, this is not the primary pathway the virus uses. A Paxlovid resistant virus won’t suddenly have a general evolutionary advantage for growth. It’ll just be more likely to kill people.

[ceejayoz]

Why would a virus that can survive Paxlovid and continue infecting people not have an evolutionary advantage in a society with widely available Paxlovid treatments?

[thehappypm]

There’s clearly an advantage, but I think it’s pretty minimal. Evading immunity or being more contagious would be a much larger increase in fitness.