Someone asked me if we know what sorts of conditions allow the virus to mutate faster than usual. While I think that's still a very active area of research, a couple of factors likely play a big role: 1) the amount of time someone is infected with live virus, and 2) that person's ability to recognize and mount a response against the virus. There's sparse case report evidence (as opposed to studies of groups of people) that supports the notion that the longer the virus is able to replicate in your body, the greater the chance it's going to pick up some beneficial mutations.
Someone asked me if we know what sorts of conditions allow the virus to mutate faster than usual. While I think that's still a very active area of research, a couple of factors likely play a big role: 1) the amount of time someone is infected with live virus, and 2) that person's ability to recognize and mount a response against the virus. There's sparse case report evidence (as opposed to studies of groups of people) that supports the notion that the longer the virus is able to replicate in your body, the greater the chance it's going to pick up some beneficial mutations.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2031364