Waiting for answers to key questions

Six months of a global pandemic have stirred an unprecedented amount of research. While many things about Covid-19 have been discovered, a lot of research has produced incomplete and sometimes contradictory results.

These are the pressing questions that do not have answers yet.

1. Why do people respond so differently?

Some people have mild symptoms or even no symptoms and don’t know they are infected. While most reactions are respiratory there are also cases of heart and blood vessel damage and kidney failure. Many people require hospitalization, some end up in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and many people die from Covid-19.

2. What’s the nature of immunity and how long does it last?

Studies have found that the level of antibodies produced by the immune system when someone has been infected with Covid-19 can vary quite a lot. It is not known what level of antibodies are necessary to provide immunity or how long it lasts.

3. Has the virus developed more dangerous new mutations?

Molecular biologists can determine the genetic mutations in Covid-19 and use this information to track how the virus has spread from one region to another around the world. But it is not known if any of these mutations are more virulent or transmissible than others.

4. How well will vaccines work?

Some vaccines might work well at preventing lung infections but not infections elsewhere in the body. Some vaccines may produce enough antibodies to work for some people but not enough to protect others from infection.

5. What is the origin of virus?

There is general agreement that the virus originated in bats. Scientist are able to compare the Covid-19 genome to the genomes of coronaviruses found in different bats and other animals. So far, there are genetic differences that are too large to conclude what the original source might be.

For a more complete report on these questions and the research that has been done see
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01989-z