Was SARS the original COVID?

Was SARS the original COVID?

From BioGraphics - True Biographies & History's Most Fascinating People by biog

May 5, 2026 · 18 min

About this episode

This episode explores the historical context of SARS and its relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Was SARS the original COVID? 12 Jul 2024 --- In all of our modern human history, nothing shook us quite like the 2020 COVID lockdowns. It seems like forever ago already, but try to remember just how weird it all was. One day we were going around touching doors and politely coughing on each other, the next you can’t get a sandwich at a deli. Flights were grounded, trailers were shipped to hospitals just to handle the dead bodies, and mandatory quarantines brought out the absolute best and worst in humans. We still haven’t recovered from it. But keep in mind the name of the virus: COVID-19. That’s short for “coronavirus disease 2019”. This was not our first brush with the bug, which is caused by the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus. It was by far the deadliest, with over 7 million deaths and counting, but it was just a strain of a pathogen that the world had been dealing with since around 2002. Much like you download the newest iOS on your phones, the SARS virus has been installing its own updates over the last two decades. The reason you may not have remembered them very well is most likely the passing of time, and the way the news cycles constantly refresh. But make…

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