“It’s only a virus, not some supernatural entity. You wouldn’t know that from a lot of the news reports.”
That’s a reasonable statement. You are knowledgeable, and I for one appreciate your participation here.
Would it be accurate to say that the virus is one of healthcare’s last frontiers? As I understand it, a virus is one nasty bugger to eliminate, and it crystalizes when frozen, then thaws out to be alive all over again.
Strep bacteria survived frozen inside an unmanned Surveyor 3 probe on the moon until Apollo astronauts bought the probe back for the data recordings. In other words, it survived being frozen at -250 F inside a container which shielded it from UV rays for years and revived once exposed to Earth conditions again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reports_of_Streptococcus_mitis_on_the_Moon
Viruses are challenging, and so are bacteria. We are fighting a never ending war with them. The antibiotics, antivirals, and vaccines we make to fight them are never 100% effective, and those few survivors can mutate to be resistant to the drugs or vaccines.
At least it means job security for us scientists.