Evolution is a term that does not endear to a significant number of peoples. It is controversial because people of faith see it as an affront to their beliefs as it postulates that humans are just another member of the animal kingdom. In contrast, they see us as God’s unique creation with a body and “soul.” On the other hand, science sees us as a creature that is a predictable product of a process that started some 3.5 billion years ago.
The average person has no comprehension of this process. A high school student does not get a thorough education of this “Theory.” Even as Evolution is seen as the most critical fact of Biology, as essential and as important as understanding gravity, it has had a long history of controversy since Charles Darwin postulated this concept some 160 years ago.
Whether a student attends a secular or a sectarian school, institutions are accountable to the wishes of taxpayers. Parents generally either do not want to deal with the reality of their origins or do not attach any importance to understanding it. The faith-based lobby is most especially adamant in its acceptance, instead pushing the alternate idea of creationism ( AKA as the Biblical Genesis ). A much-shrunken concept, in my opinion, even the Pope, I suspect, does not believe in it at all. In Canada, only 20% ( 35% in the U.S.) believe humans did not evolve from another “being” but have existed in their present form from the beginning. One of the many egregious head-scratcher claims religionists still clings on.
A hundred years ago, many states in the U.S. had laws outlawing the teaching of Evolution, culminating in the so-called “Scopes Monkey Trial” ( 1925 ) convicting a teacher for teaching it. Acceptance of Evolution has increased many folds since, even if people have only a vague understanding of the concept. There is a hardened core that clings to the Genesis version of how it happened. Whether human Evolution or any other, many still do not understand how “Natural Selection” ( the force that drives Evolution) works.
COVID19 offers an excellent opportunity to focus on this process as science is front and center, churches are closed, and no distracting “alternative facts” are provided from the pulpit. Religion is old and can set us back 5,000 years. It does not add anything new and relevant knowledge. There are more cases and death from COVID 19 traceable from religious odysseys than any other human activity. Case in point: India’s Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage in the Ganges that attracts some 40 million devotees each year. How many cases and deaths have resulted from this single activity is an ongoing catastrophe and has yet to bottom out.
VIRUSES ARE NOT YOUR TYPICAL LIVING THING
Viruses are not like your typical living thing; it is more a transitional form between non-living and living. They are incapable of reproducing on their own. Instead, they use the resources ( the “RNA”) of a host cell to multiply, at which point, they may cause changes or break down the host cell altogether.
Cells of living things undergo mutations all the time. Natural agents in the environment, such as radioactivity, solar energy, or naturally occurring chemical mutagens, make this happen. The simplicity of viruses makes them more susceptible to mutation, and when they change, it’s the entirety of the whole virus. The mutant then reproduces anew and may become the dominant strain, at which point we call it a “variant.”
In multicellular entities, cellular mutations may not necessarily cause any significant changes in an organism. As a general rule, the simpler the organism, the more a mutation causes a variant organism. Our 200,000-year history has not produced a human variant ( defined as another human-like organism that we cannot have offspring with ). No doubt, we have lots of variations in our phenotype ( physical trait ) and genotype ( genetic trait ) but not sufficient to prevent reproduction between all peoples. The Neanderthals, our most recent forebear, became extinct 40,000 years ago ( after surviving 400,000 years). An evolutionary process is an ongoing phenomenon in our population, and one day, we too will become extinct, and a new “human” variant ( could be an Elon Musk variant ) will become dominant.
A variant becomes dominant when environmental conditions are most suitable for their survival and reproduction. A similar variety may arise in separate continents in more advanced organisms if a similar niche is available in each location ( such as an alligator and a crocodile). Still, another way to produce a variant is when a parental generation becomes geographically isolated. Eventually, new subspecies arise and become separate species when they fully adapt to their new environments. Darwin’s Galapagos Finches spread out this way.
The availability of different types of food allows Natural Selection to flourish. Bears, fish, and tens of thousands of insects are some examples that have been propagated this way. Humans, on the other hand, have civilized themselves to evolve any further by Natural Selection. Whatever dominant (human) species thrives later will be achieved in a very gradual way ( unless there is a cataclysm that wipes us all out ) in the same way that Homo Sapiens eventually displaced the Neanderthals after 40,000 years. ( the recent U.S. elections make you wonder if they have all disappeared; don’t you wish Natural Selection can be more expeditious!)
All living things continue to propagate themselves because there are variations in their populations. This variety ensures that there would be survivors in various environmental conditions, “Survival of the Fittest,” as Darwin postulated in 1859. The survivors carry on and reproduce their kind, the ones that fit a new environment. The simplicity of viruses allows them to replace the unfit variety rapidly. Minor tweaks in their habitat ( such as a vaccine) would allow the survivors ( the “variants”) to carry on. If the new variants cause a more severe illness, it’s an indication of our immune system’s failure to fight them. ( until we develop natural immunity against it or a new vaccine comes along ). For the virus, it is simply an instinctive exercise in survival.
VIRAL HERD IMMUNITY
Herd immunity occurs when there is no longer an uncontrolled population explosion of a given virus because of natural immunity ( achieved by having had the disease or exposure) or through induced exposure by vaccination. Earning herd immunity varies with the virus. COVID 19 requires at least 70% immunity, whereas measles need 95% before a population is said to be protected from an outbreak.
Natural immunity alone can achieve herd immunity but at a very high rate of death. The 1918 Flu pandemic is one such example. It lasted pretty quickly, within two years, because it spread like wildfire and killed an estimated 50 to 75 million people. With no immunization and little understanding of how it proliferates, exposure was widespread, and people were dying like flies.
Today, the highest death rates from COVID 19 are from countries that, for one reason or another, mismanaged the pandemic: the U.S., Brazil, and now India lead the world by far. The U.S. is less than 100 k away from the 675,000 deaths it suffered in the 1918 pandemic.
After herd immunity, the viruses do not go away. They are ever-present, but because there is widespread immunity, a pandemic is less likely, and a sterile viral environment is not conducive to variant proliferation. Like the flu virus, new vaccines are put out every year based on a new resurgent variety. The seasonal flu still kills 650,000 each year ( COVID 19 has killed 3.5 million thus far, 15 months since WHO declared it as a pandemic )
THE INDIAN SURGE
The second Indian surge is a case example of how variants can change the dynamics of a pandemic. Previously, the prevalent theory was that India and many third-world countries have relatively low COVID 19 cases because the poor have constant exposure to various viruses. Therefore, they have developed a natural immunity against COVID 19. It may have protected them initially until the variants overrun the original virus.
India got complacent and slow to vaccinate ( less than 2% ). They have allowed super spreader events like religious festivals and political rallies with no masks and no social distancing. Along with population densities and climatic factors, this is a recipe for mutations to flourish and new variants to arise. Together with U.K., S.A., and now Indian variants, the theoretical natural Indian immunity was no match to a resurgent COVID 19-2.0. Over 400,000 new cases a day, 4000 deaths in 24 hours, has resulted in a total caseload of 17 million and nearly 200,000 deaths. ( widely believed as underreported) .Hospitals are overwhelmed, and parking lots are converted into crematoria.
The Indian variants are now present in 17 countries. It is incorrect to assume that it was brought on only by highly contagious variants. While a fast reproducing, highly transmissible variety can come via infected individuals, the same variant can arise elsewhere on its own ( as previously explained ). It need not be an offspring of an existing one.
Both ends of the living spectrum have the best chances of survival. Besides the endless variety within their population, viruses and bacteria do not have many physiological barriers to overcome. On the other end of the spectrum, humans have at our disposal a well-developed brain that can provide cover to a wide variety of environmental challenges.
This process is essentially similar to the way Evolution works in all living things, including humans. Domestication, however, has cancelled out nature in higher forms of animals, including humans. First, we circumvent Natural Selection by selective breeding. Second, we passed laws to protect only those that are useful to our selfish interests. This practice has eliminated many plants and animal varieties that are not commercially viable but perhaps the ones that can survive a radioactive calamity. The millions of acreages in the Canadian prairies are probably home to less than a dozen wheat varieties. Out of 7,500 varieties of apples, you will never find but a handful in any grocery store anywhere.
During the viral reproductive process, it can change or damage the hosts’ cell. Tumours and cancers can result from these viral activities. COVID 19 virus affects the lungs primarily because the host cell of this virus is in the lungs’ air sacs ( alveoli ). These are the cells that allow air exchange from within our bodies. It extracts oxygen from the air we breathe and gives up carbon dioxide, a waste product of cellular metabolism. Oxygen fuels all of our processes that keep us alive. When the air sacs are infected, it is not able to do its regular job. Breathing does not deliver life-giving oxygen. At this point, the oxygen level in the blood goes down. A ventilator helps the lungs to obtain air once the patient becomes unable to breathe normally.
The reluctance to partner with science has led to vaccine hesitancy. Lack of confidence in the medical community is a barrier; politics also plays a role (most vaccine-hesitancy in the U.S. are from Republicans). Misinformation, religious ideology, and conspiracy theories further muddy the water.
If this is what they call a “breakdown in mental hygiene,” then we need a mental spring cleaning and let the resurgent summer free us from this viral scourge.