Question

Based on the letter of your last name in ASAP will be how you are assigned your state: a. Last Name starts with the letter A-D, you choose from one of these states

i. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware

Introduction Portion (10%)

a. Discuss where and how the Coronavirus originated.

b. Explain why you chose the state from the given list above; in other words, reasoning based on area,

peaked at the better stats first, etc.

c. Give the current population of your chosen state

Answer 1

a)   Evidence for natural evolution

The scientists found that the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins had evolved to effectively target a molecular feature on the outside of human cells called ACE2, a receptor involved in regulating blood pressure. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was so effective at binding the human cells, in fact, that the scientists concluded it was the result of natural selection and not the product of genetic engineering.

This evidence for natural evolution was supported by data on SARS-CoV-2's backbone -- its overall molecular structure. If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness. But the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known coronaviruses and mostly resembled related viruses found in bats and pangolins.

"These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rules out laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for SARS-CoV-2".

Possible origins of the virus

Based on genomic sequencing analysis, scientists concluded that the most likely origins for SARS-CoV-2 followed one of two possible scenarios.

In one scenario, the virus evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host and then jumped to humans. This is how previous coronavirus outbreaks have emerged, with humans contracting the virus after direct exposure to civets (SARS) and camels (MERS). The researchers proposed bats as the most likely reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 as it is very similar to a bat coronavirus. There are no documented cases of direct bat-human transmission, however, suggesting that an intermediate host was likely involved between bats and humans.

In this scenario, both of the distinctive features of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein -- the RBD portion that binds to cells and the cleavage site that opens the virus up -- would have evolved to their current state prior to entering humans. In this case, the current epidemic would probably have emerged rapidly as soon as humans were infected, as the virus would have already evolved the features that make it pathogenic and able to spread between people.

In the other proposed scenario, a non-pathogenic version of the virus jumped from an animal host into humans and then evolved to its current pathogenic state within the human population. For instance, some coronaviruses from pangolins, armadillo-like mammals found in Asia and Africa, have an RBD structure very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. A coronavirus from a pangolin could possibly have been transmitted to a human, either directly or through an intermediary host such as civets or ferrets.

Then the other distinct spike protein characteristic of SARS-CoV-2, the cleavage site, could have evolved within a human host, possibly via limited undetected circulation in the human population prior to the beginning of the epidemic. The researchers found that the SARS-CoV-2 cleavage site, appears similar to the cleavage sites of strains of bird flu that has been shown to transmit easily between people. SARS-CoV-2 could have evolved such a virulent cleavage site in human cells and soon kicked off the current epidemic, as the coronavirus would possibly have become far more capable of spreading between people.

b) I chose Alaska. US is one of country in which the Covid-19 spread becomes out of control. As current report around 1.13 million confirmed cases and over 65 thousands deaths are there. In the given states better one is Alaska, which has only 355 conformed cases, 9 deaths and 252 recovered cases. Also the population of Alaska is less compared to other states.

Arkansas - 3281 confirmed cases, 61 deaths

Alabama -  7019 confirmed cases, 269 deaths

Arizona - 7962 confirmed cases, 330 daeths

Delaware - 4734 confirmed cases, 152 deaths

Colorado - 15,284 confirmed cases, 777 deaths

California - 48,917 confirmed cases, 1982 deaths

Connecticut - 27,700 confirmed cases, 2257 deaths

This is current status of the given states of US.

c) 7.34 Lakh