The Covid-19 Global Pandemic: A Natural Experiment in the Making.

[...]these natural experiments happen whether people want them to or not! Even after strict travel restrictions were implemented, the virus spread rapidly across the USA and phylogenetic analyses have proved useful to clarify the importance of domestic transmission [5]. [...]recent bioinformatic analyses of complete viral genomes suggest increasing diversification of SARS-CoV-2 strains [6]. Furthermore, a study in patients with lupus showed that the ACE2 gene is under epigenetic control, where hypomethylation was associated with increased ACE2 gene expression [10]. [...]it is plausible that lifestyle factors that regulate the epigenome may also alter a person’s risk of infection. [...]it will be important to follow babies born at different points during the pandemic, as well as young children, to determine whether COVID-19-induced lifestyle changes in parents have any long-lasting ramifications on offspring as they age.