An avalanche of articles is asking why Africa was relatively untouched by the coronavirus. NBC News put it bluntly: Covid models predicted devastation in Africa, but the reality is starkly different [1].
Last March, at the start of the pandemic, I predicted the African exception. Here I share with you what I wrote then, and I conclude with the science that has just occurred, which supports my prediction:
1. The nonuniform distribution of susceptibility to the coronavirus corresponds to the nonuniform distribution of Neanderthal DNA.
2. The human susceptibility was inherited from the Neanderthals, which is why those with zero Neanderthal DNA (in Africa) are less susceptible.
3. The Neanderthals declined to extinction because of virus induced diseases, not because of Darwinian competition with allegedly superior humans.
Any new ‘connection’ is an opportunity for new scientific research. This means to take a fresh look at the available body of data on virus spreading. It means to ask new questions about known facts.
This new understanding would make it easier to anticipate the spreading of diseases, and to offer help to those who are threatened the most.