"Viruses aren't considered alive -- in class, I call them pseudo-alive," said Eric Mendenhall, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
"They require a host to even begin to function. However, since they use DNA or RNA to pass information to the next round of viruses the cell makes for them, they are subject to some of the same principles of evolution and selection that alive organisms are subject to," he explained in a university news release.
"A virus usually enters the cell through a protein our cells have on their surface. COVID-19 -- and SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] before that -- use a protein called ACE2, which is on the surface of the cells in our lung, throat and intestinal tract," Mendenhall said.
Viruses can't spread unless people help them, and people can stop the spread by washing hands and social distancing.
"If you don't pass it on, then that virus hits a dead end in its pseudo-life," Mendenhall said.
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