Scientists have been going to Myanmar and other coronavirus-teeming areas recently to get samples from the local bats. Over the past decade, we have discovered over 150 types of coronaviruses all around the world, and there are still thousands undiscovered.
The reason why researching COVID-19’s cousins can help the medical industry is that scientists can find similarities between them all. One strand’s weakness my be expressed more or less in all of them. We can use this info to create better vaccines or treatments.
Another use for all these viruses is finding something that identifies them all; what makes them SARS. Looking at them closely, we can find some identifying traits that show up in all of them, and once we know their basic features, testing kits will have a much better time being designed.
In the long run, studying coronaviruses will help development of of treatment, and other than lifting this pandemic off of us, it can give us valuable information for years to come.