Nature, STAT Examine COVID-19’s Impact On Science, What Researchers Know About New Virus

Nature: COVID and 2020: An extraordinary year for science
“One event dominated in 2020: a deadly and previously unknown virus wreaked havoc across the globe, killing more than 1.5 million people, infecting many more, and causing economic devastation. And although there were other newsworthy research developments in 2020, the pandemic set the course of science to an extraordinary degree. The speed of the coronavirus’s spread has been matched only by the pace of scientific insights…” (Callaway et al., 12/15).

STAT: The coronavirus at 1: A year into the pandemic, what scientists know about how it spreads, infects, and sickens
“…A year into the pandemic, STAT is outlining a portrait of SARS-CoV-2 based on what scientists learned as the virus raced around the world, crippling some economies, societies, and health systems in its wake. … There are still lots of questions about SARS-2, as scientists call the virus for short, from basic biological queries to multifaceted mysteries, like why certain people get so sick. But for a virus that’s sometimes portrayed as bestowed with superpowers, experts point out that SARS-2 is in many ways, well, pretty normal…” (Joseph, 12/14).

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