but if any one of them were suddenly swapped out for a failed mutation like Covid-19, we'd all be dying
dont get this line. ur saying that C19 is a failed mutation ? seems pretty successful as its killing only a small % of its infectees. tho est @ very roughly R0=4. that is unless a successful mutation is one that kills. not u/s.
ok. take measles. they say it carries a ballpark R0=18. so highly successful ?...as it spreads wildly w/out killing off too many ?
A virus is just an evolution of a living creature like any other. The virus' "purpose" is not to kill the most people. It's purpose is to "be fruitful and multiply". To do this, it has to co-exist with humans and other animals it can infect, and infect them all as hosts without killing them, because it needs the most hosts possible, so yes, Covid-19 is a failed virus mutation.
If baby was born with Hulk-like strength and cat-like agility, but it killed its whole family when it was just playing around and starved to death without milk 
...that would also be a failed mutation. The fact that is was a more powerful/deadly version of a human being would be beside the point. It would never reproduce and propagate the mutation.
Chicken pox would be a good example of a virus that co-exists without killing its own hosts, unless it turns into shingles decades later down the road, and even then it's not really deadly, just debilitating. That's why "chicken pox parties" for kids are a thing, arguably good or bad, and Covid-19 parties should not be a thing, because they are just 100% bad. But people that rely on their "common sense" and disregard anything but firsthand experience...which is like the cheetah cub that gets a faceful of porcupine quills even though they see their mother and all their siblings shying away...they may survive, but they are not contributing to their species' successful evolution . Now, when that same cheetah cub goes to a chess forum and tries to tell everyone to stick their faces in the quills and learn for themselves...those cheetah cubs become a public nuisance.
Yes. Either you believe the sources that report this. Or you dont. Take your pick.
In fact, the disease has killed people in all age groups, including children who have developed a rare toxic shock syndrome, according to reports in recent days from New York and elsewhere in the United States and other countries.
Separately, a new study of children with Covid-19 admitted to pediatric intensive care units in the United States and Canada concludes that while the overall severity of symptoms in the children was “far less than that documented in adults… Covid-19 can result in a significant disease burden in children.” According to the research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, 40 of the 48 children, ranging in age from four to 16, had underlying medical conditions. Two of them died, and three remain on ventilators.
Meanwhile, more data is revealing how other age groups are affected. People ages 20 to 44 account for 20% of Covid-19 hospitalizations and 12% of ICU admissions, according to Paul G. Auwaerter, MD, at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
lately more people under age 40 developing severe breathing problems and blood clots related to Covid-19.
“We are really shocked to see younger age groups have similar complications” as older people, Salata tells me, adding, “We’ve seen it in some younger people who had no risk factors.”
One does not have to die from Covid-19 to be severely affected. Some people who recovered from Covid-19 have been “unable to shake sickness and fatigue” weeks later. It’s too soon to know whether the disease might leave some people with enduring debilitations.
Exactly. We've known this for quite a while now. People with existing health problems are more at risk. I would think that would be common knowledge by now.