[Nateman]

Actual viruses tend to become less lethal. It’s simple evolution. You don’t get to spread if the host is dead .

[RC one]

I agree with that but I have always maintained that Covid is deadly because of its contagiousness more than its inherent lethality. It is able to reach a lot of susceptible hosts and, by virtue of that, it kills a lot of people but still manages to copy itself very successfully. That's it's basic survival strategy.

I don't expect it to become much more deadly but I do expect it to evolve to find new susceptible hosts. Specifically, I think it will become more of a problem for young people and I think it will evolve to be more persistent on surfaces and in high temperature/humidity/UV radiation climates. It will evolve to circumvent the vaccines. It will evolve to infect people with a lower infectious dose and; thereby, become more lethal potentially. It will evolve to become more transmissible via contact. It will evolve to reach more hosts.