# As if this isn't scary enough already **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [May 5, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223 "2020-05-05T20:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/1 "2020-05-05T20:42:30Z")
Two stories came up on my newsfeed today. The [first](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/health/nyc-children-hospitalized-inflammatory-coronavirus/index.html): > [@](#): > > Fifteen children in New York City have been hospitalized with symptoms compatible with a multi-system inflammatory syndrome possibly linked to the coronavirus, according to a health alert issued by the New York City Health Department on Monday. The [second](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-05/mutant-coronavirus-has-emerged-more-contagious-than-original): > [@](#): > > Scientists have identified a new strain of the coronavirus that has become dominant worldwide and appears to be more contagious than the versions that spread in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory. > > The new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the East Coast of the United States and has been the dominant strain across the world since mid-March, the scientists wrote. > > In addition to spreading faster, it may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease, the report warned. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/2 "2020-05-05T21:53:54Z")
Most scientists do not seem to be too concerned about the second story. See [here](https://gizmodo.com/what-to-know-about-that-new-paper-claiming-the-coronavi-1843265388). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/3 "2020-05-05T22:04:32Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Most scientists do not seem to be too concerned about the second story. See [here](https://gizmodo.com/what-to-know-about-that-new-paper-claiming-the-coronavi-1843265388). Thank you for this. \<\*\*ThelmaLou \*\*climbs down from the chandelier.\> ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/4 "2020-05-06T09:17:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > \<\*\*ThelmaLou \*\*climbs down from the chandelier.\> Didn’t think there was room up there for both of us, didja? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/5 "2020-05-06T12:35:13Z")
Coronaviruses are good at mutating, which is a bad news/good news proposition. The bad news is that they can mutate - potentially into something more contagious and even deadlier. The good news is, they can mutate just as easily into something harmless or something that eventually leads to its own extinction. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/6 "2020-05-06T13:57:54Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Most scientists do not seem to be too concerned about the second story. See [here](https://gizmodo.com/what-to-know-about-that-new-paper-claiming-the-coronavi-1843265388). Thanks – I’m glad to hear that. Maybe I missed it (no coffee yet this morning) but do they think that having had the first strain will give you immunity to the second strain? That’s the part I found most scary – that people who test positive for the antibodies from having had the early strain will go out and about, not realizing they can get the second, more contagious strain. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/7 "2020-05-06T14:23:06Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Most scientists do not seem to be too concerned about the second story. See [here](https://gizmodo.com/what-to-know-about-that-new-paper-claiming-the-coronavi-1843265388). The objections do not seem unlike any other paper that comes up for peer review. In other words, that is pretty standard. The theory does explain a number of issues that were otherwise puzzling. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/8 "2020-05-06T14:33:45Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Thanks – I’m glad to hear that. > > Maybe I missed it (no coffee yet this morning) but do they think that having had the first strain will give you immunity to the second strain? That’s the part I found most scary – that people who test positive for the antibodies from having had the early strain will go out and about, not realizing they can get the second, more contagious strain. [This thread](https://twitter.com/PeterKolchinsky/status/1257775615610179584) seems to suggest this particular mutation won’t do that, although it’s possible that another type of mutation will. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/9 "2020-05-06T14:52:27Z")
I thought this was going to be about the [giant mutant killer murder hornets.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-washington.html) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-if-this-isnt-scary-enough-already/853223/10 "2020-05-06T15:27:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Didn’t think there was room up there for both of us, didja? I wondered whose elbow that was. 😃