Coronavirus variants

 We don't just have the United Kingdom variant that we've heard so much about. Now there's a South African variant, this virus is mutating though as with the UK variant it's only more contagious. The virus is very contagious though seemingly not entirely lethal save for age and other pre-existing conditions.

Here's more from Scientific America:

Researchers were only partly right. The virus is indeed bad—but it is not so stable after all. SARS-CoV-2 has been acquiring minor random mutations ever since it jumped from animals to humans. These mutations can take the form of single-letter typos in the viral genetic code or deletions or insertions of longer stretches. When they occur, most mutations either kill the virus or cause no change in its structure or behavior.

But in recent months, several new variants of the original virus (also called the wild type) have been spotted that appear to cause major changes in the way the pathogen acts, including alterations to its contagiousness. These viral versions have seemingly popped up in rapid succession in different geographical regions, such as the U.K and South Africa and Brazil, and in some cases have outcompeted the existing variants. Although improved surveillance and sequencing efforts might partly explain why these variants are appearing now, some repetition in their patterns suggest the mutations are not random.

“What we’re seeing is similar mutations arising in multiple places,” says Adam Lauring, a virologist at the University of Michigan. “That’s pretty suggestive that these mutations are doing something.”

Specifically, they appear to help the virus transmit more readily and evade the immune system. This month researchers reported, for the first time, that antibodies from individuals with COVID did not completely neutralize a variant first identified in South Africa. A few people who recovered from the disease also appear to have been reinfected with the mutant virus.

Thus far, vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer seem to work against the new variants, although Moderna has begun developing a booster shot specific to new variants. Because these two vaccines are more than 90 percent effective, a slight drop in effectiveness would still make them worth using, experts say.

I suppose we have to continue some of these measures a bit longer. Social distancing, wash hands, wear a face covering of some sort. I was impatient thinking we can just beat this thing, however, it does as nature does it replicates and creates new versions of the same bug...