Bats carry coronaviruses, but why don’t they get sick?

Bats are thought to be the original host for all coronaviruses, including the one now causing so much pain, but the nocturnal flying mammals might hold the key to defeating Covid-19. — Dreamstime/TNS

In stout metal cylinders chilled to -112°F (-80°C), DeeAnn Reeder and Ken Field store the intestines and other tissues from hundreds of bats.

Little brown bats from the caves of Upstate New York and Wisconsin. Amber-eyed fruit bats from Uganda with white “epaulettes” on their shoulders. From each, carefully labelled bits of spleen, lymph nodes, and lungs.