UVA infectious disease expert discusses variants, efficacy of vaccines Dr. Amy Mathers and her team of infectious disease specialists at the University of Virginia are tracking down variants of COVID-19 in Central Virginia, studying nearly every single positive case in our region. By Elizabeth Holmes | May 8, 2021 at 10:37 PM EDT - Updated May 8 at 10:37 PM CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Dr. Amy Mathers and her team of infectious disease specialists at the University of Virginia are tracking down variants of COVID-19 in Central Virginia, studying nearly every single positive case in our region. “It’s been pretty interesting. We’ve been trying to get all sequences of all positive cases done since February 1, so we’ve been watching a change in emergence of the different variants,” Mathers said in a press briefing hosted by UVA Health on Friday.