Five Things We Still Don't Know About Covid

Since a new coronavirus launched the global pandemic that has now killed more than 6.5 million people - 16 percent of them in the United States alone - scientists in record numbers have devoted themselves full time to unraveling its mysteries.

In less than three years, researchers have published more than 200,000 studies about the virus and COVID-19. That is four times the number of scientific papers written on influenza in the past century and more than 10 times the number written on measles.

Still, the virus has kept many of its secrets, from how it mutates so rapidly to why it kills some while leaving others largely unscathed - mysteries that if solved might arm the world’s scientists with new strategies to curb its spread and guard against the next pandemic. Here are some of the most pressing questions they are trying to answer:

• Where did the virus come from, and why has it been so successful?

• How is the virus evolving, and will there be new variants?

• Can we develop a coronavirus vaccine that will protect against future variants?

• Why do some people develop long COVID?

• Why does COVID severity differ by age and from one person to another?

by Mark Johnson, Washington Post |  Read more:

Image: Jenna Portnoy, Washington Post

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