Survival of the fittest

Just as the fittest teammates of an escaped cyclist can take turns at the front of the peloton to slow down the speed of the group, the fittest virus variants can come to the forefront of the viral landscape to slow the transmission of the virus.

We see that the current SARS-CoV-2 subvariants differ from each other by subtle differences, often involving just a single mutation. However, the higher infectiousness conferred by these variants is largely negated by increased adsorption of the progeny virus to dendritic cells (DCs) patrolling the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract (URT; see fig. 1). Consequently, the increased fitness of the virus is not sufficient to compensate for its 'neutralization' by the URT-patrolling DCs, resulting in decreased inter-host transmission. The increased adsorption of progeny virus to migratory DCs depletes the local concentration of virulence-inhibiting non-neutralizing antibodies, thereby promoting viral trans infection of susceptible tissue cells by DC-tethered virions outside the URT. Since this increased trans infection also occurs in the gastrointestinal tract, and potentially in the urogenital tract , the emergence of a new, more infectious variant can lead to increased viral load in wastewater (as measured by PCR; see fig. 2). An increase in wastewater viral activity, therefore, does no longer indicate an increase in inter-host transmission!

Finally, it seems likely that the more inter-host transmission is compromised, the faster the new, fitter 'riders' will take over the front of the peloton to slow down the speed at which the peloton pursues their escaping teammate (i.e., the faster the proportion of new more infectious subvariants – as determined based on COVID-19 (C-19) wastewater data- will grow): see figs. 3 and 4, respectively.

This strategy of coordinated collaboration rapidly diminishes the chances of the peloton catching up with the rider who escaped from the group unless a fit rider from another team takes the lead and spectacularly increases the speed of the peloton. Similarly, the survival of the virus is at stake unless another Coronavirus (i.e., HIVICRON) suddenly dominates the viral landscape (in highly C-19 vaccinated populations) and dramatically increases viral intra-host transmission, a phenomenon known to enhance viral virulence...

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