[Mount Athos]

I think much of the fear is of the virus mutating.
In 2002 a southern China coronavirus mutated by the time it got to Canada. It became a lot more lethal but also a lot less transmittable, so it quickly petered out.

But what if the mutation increased transmission instead of decreased.

There will be so many of these viruses over hundreds of years, only a rare few will mutate into something terrible. Which one? Who knows.
Sure, this one probably won’t kill anything like a superflu, but there’s that rare chance it mutates into something worse than it is now.

I don’t see many people addressing this subject of mutation

[DouglasKC]

I don’t see many people addressing this subject of mutation

I'm sure that figures in the equation as well. The "flu" shot doesn't cover all mutations of influenza and WHEN (not if) this mutates there won't be a single vaccine that can handle it.

[exDemMom]

In 2002 a southern China coronavirus mutated by the time it got to Canada. It became a lot more lethal but also a lot less transmittable, so it quickly petered out.

But what if the mutation increased transmission instead of decreased.

In general, the more transmissible a virus is, the less deadly it is. Covid-19 is one of those that occupies a sweet spot: it has a low enough mortality rate to be highly transmissible, but high enough mortality to cause millions of deaths in a susceptible population.

[Tellurian]

I think much of the fear is of the virus mutating.

It seems like the original "genome" wreaked great havoc in Wuhan and then Iran (mutual WMD experiments?). It seems the virus could be different in many other countries - not as lethal (except in Italy). If immunity to the Iran & Wuhan "genome" can be had by contracting a version circulating in another country where the death toll is only akin to the flu (like Korea), then that might not be the end of the world.