The Pandemic and the RNA Sequencing Gap

Very recommendable!

Helps to explain why the dangers of the SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 have been so extremely exaggerated to this day!

SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] was most likely a serious misnomer of this virus! Just this acronym itself implies great danger. However, we know since the beginning of the global pandemic that 80% or more of the infected are asymptomatic or experience only mild symptoms. The association of the new virus with the far deadlier SARS-CoV-1 and MERS were a huge mistake that was never corrected by the authorities!

The family of coronaviruses also includes the fairly harmless cold virus. How different is the cold virus from SARS-CoV-2? Still an open question!

This article also describes that current methods to characterize (viral) RNA are by far not as good as those to characterize DNA.

"... Almost 20 years ago, an RNA virus now known as SARS-CoV-1 spread through the human population killing nearly 775 people who suffered from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that the virus caused. Since 2012, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), another disease caused by an RNA coronavirus, has killed more than 850 people, approximately 35 percent of those it has infected. Scientists were alarmed by the severity of these viral infections and through genetic analysis were able to get an idea of how these viruses infect cells. But the inferiority of RNA-characterizing techniques with respect to DNA-focused methods means that researchers' understanding of the biology and processes associated with these infections is still arguably nascent. ..."

Opinion: The Pandemic and the RNA Sequencing Gap | The Scientist Magazine® RNA sequencing technology lags far behind researchers’ ability to decode and understand DNA. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this dangerous shortcoming.