Peter Lederman in Second Bout With COVID-19

In all fairness, it is none of our business to go snooping about details of his health condition. In fact, with all the good intentions, even posting these details so far might have been a step too far.

I agree. 
What’s the point to post on public forum about someone’s disease, it’s too personal. 

yes indeed, God please leave Peter, his dog, his company and his poetry with us all a while longer...

@glupson you are a good dude

In situations like this it is very hard for people to be deliberate. I do not think that is Peter's style. I also would bet he fully knows about the grape vine going on about this and I suspect he will eventually announce his situation.
As for the etiology of this virus I fully agree with Lewm who is more knowledgeable about this than I am. In nature this virus is likely to mutate one protein at a time and what ever it does is up for grabs. It may well mutate itself out of existence just as well as becoming more virulent. One thing is for certain, once a virus loses it's hosts it is done. It can not replicate without the genetic machinery of it's host. There is always a way to eradicate a virus, you either immunize or knock off the hosts. Smallpox is an example.     

One other comment, this whole mess is a great example of how mythology can quickly form. The conspiracy theories proliferate like wildfire without even any serious evidence of wrong doing. I personally do not think this pandemic was handled well. It was another chicken little story. Millions of people lost their jobs and businesses in the process. The economic damage will take years if not decades to overcome and for people will never be the same again. Nobody interviewed the elderly and asked what they want. Every last one of my cognitively intact elderly nursing home patients said things like "I'm ready to go" or "don't worry about me."  We could have protected the elderly and infirmed without near as much economic damage. 

tomic601,

Well, thanks.