The US government researched viruses a long time ago. The Biological Warfare folks looked at the possibility of attacking other countries and being attacked by other countries using modified biological lifeforms ( if a virus can truly be called alive). There was a debate in the 1960’s on that very subject.
Some Cogent Points
Viruses cannot breed nor multiply outside of a living entity. They do not have DNA (they only have RNA) so viruses need to hijack our DNA to multiply.
Viruses do not eat and do not grow. They can only infect and multiply. Viruses spread through contagion and each type of virus has a rate of contagion. Covid-19 is very, very contagious.
Covid-19 is a Coronavirus. Coronaviruses come in many degrees of deadliness; the common cold is a Coronavirus and so is Sars. Fortunately, we are not dealing with Sars, which causes death in the millions. Covid-19 is deadly enough to earn our respect but no need to panic. Most healthy Americans will survive; the rest of us ( like myself) need to take some precautions.
Ultraviolet light kills all viruses and bacteria. We thoroughly tested this in the 1960’s. We also noted (and this should be commonsense to everyone alive today but it doesn’t seem to be) that as it gets later in the year the rays from the sun have to travel through more of the Earth’s atmosphere lessening the effect of ultraviolet light. We also measured the distance sunlight travels into the interior of buildings through windows. In the summer months sunlight pernitrates further into a building due to the angle of the sun. These are all commonsense but we tested them anyway. It explains why viruses become more deadly in the fall and winter.
I learned from CNN (I do not listen to Fox News or go on Social Media) that the Canadian government allowed a large number of Chinese to settle in Western Canada. Our first infections began in Washington State. I guess no one but me watches CNN (Including the commentators on CNN). Several years I also learned from CNN that Military Intelligence released a modified (supposedly harmless) virus off the cost of San Francisco. The idea was to study the spread of an air born virus on a major U.S. city. Unfortunately, three people died from the virus. I guess that is why some researchers call Military Intelligence an oxymoron.
The Spreaders
All infectious diseases are controlled by locating and quarantining the people who have and are spreading the disease. Folks between the ages of 18 – 60 are reported to be the principal spreaders. Healthy people, mostly in this age group, often have the disease but no symptoms. They are totally unaware of their ability to infect others. Being young and healthy; they go about being young and healthy. It’s like having millions of Typhoid Mary’s. Covid-19 is much better at shutting down economies than killing the people spreading the disease. One of the advantages of deadlier viruses is that they also kill the spreaders. Covid-19 spares the spreaders to keep on infecting others.
Some things I've learned Over the years 