What viruses want: evolutionary insights for the Covid-19 pandemic and lessons for the next one

Book section : Chapter

This chapter applies an evolutionary lens to the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlights recurrent patterns common to all viruses and pandemics. An evolutionary perspective offers the opportunity to step back and consider the implications of the biology and behaviour of viruses, as well as the biology and behaviour of their hosts—that is, us—for pandemic responses. Rather than a static threat, the pandemic represents a dynamic, rapidly changing host–parasite interaction in which there is a constant arms race of offensive and defensive tactics. Despite herculean efforts in public policy and the development of treatments and vaccines, viruses are often able to stay one step ahead precisely because they are evolving, and quickly. This is compounded by the fact that even massive policy responses are blunted by our own evolutionary legacy. Rather than being rational actors, human beings have a variety of evolved dispositions and cognitive biases that lead us to underestimate the threat, overestimate our ability to deal with it, respond inadequately to lockdown restrictions even when we are sick but feel fine, and allow self-interest to hamper collective action. An evolutionary perspective gives us a healthy dose of reality about how hard it is to fight a global pandemic—with important lessons for more lethal ones in the future. But it also gives us novel ideas about how to fight them better.

Authors: Johnson, DDP

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Host title: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Pandemics
• Pages: 38-69
• Chapter number: 2
• Place of publication: New York
• Publication date: 2022-04-29
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192897855.003.0003
• EISBN: 9780191924279
• ISBN: 9780192897855
• Language: English
• Keywords: COVID-19; biology and behaviour; evolutionary perspective; pandemic; public policy
• Subtype: Chapter