Hey Chimera, could a virus mutate to become not as potent or even mutate itself out of existence?
You mean.. like this?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...utation-one-sample-signal-getting-weaker.html
Problem is, that the virus replicates clonally. That means all variant strains exist in parallel, not series.
Look at the nextstrain.org cladograph. Think of the divergence viral variants like the tines on a fork. Each tine with go on indefinitely, until that line is not able to infect new hosts- then it dies or fizzles out.
Once genetic variant (a tine of the fork) may acquire genetic weaknesses that slow its spread, or even stop it dead in its tracks. But it can't transfer that genetic weakness "across tines". These viruses do'nt cross-breed like we do with cannabis. They essentially replicate through clones, or "down the tine" of the fork.
Make sense?