Comment by KK7NIL

> b) COVID got significantly less deadly as it evolved, which is a known phenomenon that should also apply to this plague

No, it isn't a known phenomenon, and no, that isn't what happened.

Transmissibility and virulence are actually linked.

Delta was more transmissible and was more deadly, not less. Omicron was also highly transmissible and highly deadly.

Viral replication is also linked to both transmissibility and virulence, and that also increased with Delta and Omicron.

The headlines that Omicron was less virulent were falsified when Omicron hit Taiwan (a largely immune-naive elderly population) and was every bit as deadly as Delta was.

What happened to make later strains less deadly was the evolution of the human immune system since pretty much everyone became vaccinated or recovered and acquired T-cells that would recognize later strains.

The virus only "cares" if it becomes so virulent that it kills you before it spreads. The way that COVID kills, long after the presymptomatic shedding period, after several weeks, doesn't matter--you can dial it up and make that worse, and you won't prevent the virus from spreading.

> > COVID had a case fatality rate of 1%. Pneumonic plague, without antibiotics, has a case fatality rate of 100%.

> a) why are we comparing treated death rates with untreated death rates?

Even when treated (and treatment has to be within 24 hours) the death rate for pneumonic plague is still 17%. Better than 100%, but still nightmare fuel, especially given that the treatment has to be administered almost immediately or it will be ineffective and you're back to the 100% case fatality rate.