Based on Axios live Coronavirus Variant Tracker. Data: CDC/Axios Research/GISAID; Graphic: Will Chase/Axios; Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
America is in a race to vaccinate people before the country is overwhelmed by variants that are spurring a fourth wave of COVID-19.
Why it matters: Spring is here, and when cases were dropping, hope was rising for a more normal summer. But experts warn this will only happen if people keep social distancing, wearing masks and getting vaccinated as soon as they can.
State of play: Growing evidence shows the three authorized vaccines currently offer protection against the variants, Larry Luchsinger, assistant member of the nonprofit New York Blood Center, tells Axios.
by Rosemary Frei
According to what we hear from officials and the mainstream media, the new variants are the most dangerous and unpredictable beings since Osama bin Laden.
Everyone needs to stay safe from these invisible but murderously mighty microbes by shunning contact with the unwashed, unmasked and unvaccinated.
But is that drastic approach which is accompanied by severe curtailment of civil liberties and constitutional rights warranted?
It turns out that the case for the variants’ contagiousness and dangerousness centres largely on the theoretical effects of just one change said to stem from a mutation in the virus’s genes.
Corona: Drohen Flucht-Mutationen des Virus? - Was die neuen Virenvarianten über die Anpassung und Resistenzbildung von SARS-CoV-2 verraten scinexx.de - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scinexx.de Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SEATTLE — Three COVID-19 infections diagnosed in Washington in October were caused by a virus with a mutation that might boost the respiratory bug’s ability to dodge immune defenses.