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melanthius t1_jdjfjti wrote

Reply to comment by PopularStaff7146 in What happened to the old COVID variants, like Delta? Could they come back? by number1dork

Wouldn’t a virus do just fine if it re-infects a few people on average before the host dies?

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barchueetadonai t1_jdjg7dd wrote

Yes, but it’s very difficult to be infected with two very similar virus stains at the same time, so a more infectious variant (like Omicron) would get to most hosts first, so the other strains would keep hitting hosts that are already infected with the more infectious strain.

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valryuu t1_jdjie0x wrote

So does the more infectious strain just basically outcompete the less infectious ones, and prevent the latter from even actually infecting the person?

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