One thing that has occurred to me is that a less dangerous variant may end up being more infectious in practice, as more infected people are either unaware they have it or are less incapacitated, and therefore are free to expose themselves to others more. So this is one way that a less dangerous variant may overtake a more dangerous one, even if their inherent infectiousness is similar.
Yes. And the inverse could occur if most infections were occuring in hospitals. I think to recall (but don’t quote me) that something like this happened at some point during the Spanish flu pandemic.
One thing that has occurred to me is that a less dangerous variant may end up being more infectious in practice, as more infected people are either unaware they have it or are less incapacitated, and therefore are free to expose themselves to others more. So this is one way that a less dangerous variant may overtake a more dangerous one, even if their inherent infectiousness is similar.
Yes. And the inverse could occur if most infections were occuring in hospitals. I think to recall (but don’t quote me) that something like this happened at some point during the Spanish flu pandemic.