Rise in COVID-19 Variants

We need to talk about the Delta and MU variants. The Delta variant was found in October of last year, and is about two times more contagious than other variants. It can cause severe illness in unvaccinated people, and fully vaccinated people can still spread COVID-19, but they appear to be infectious for a shorter period of time. 

How do scientists learn more about these new variants? By comparing them, scientists can find how a certain variant spreads and acts. Certain variants that may be more resistant to the vaccine or more infectious are monitored extra carefully. They can also name and identify variants and predict if a certain variant is more dangerous than others. Scientists can use all of this information to track the spread of any given variant and see how it may mutate. 

What is the MU variant? The new variant was introduced to the public during a press conference on September third of this year, though scientist’s first findings of the variant were this January. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci told the press that the government would be keeping a very close eye on it. It has come to the attention of scientists because of the combination of mutations present. As of now they are not considering it an immediate threat, but they will be watching it more closely, as it has mutated and it seems to be less affected by the vaccine, not unlike the Beta variant that was first found in South Africa. However, more data is needed to be certain. The MU variant is not dominating the COVID-19 cases in the US at the moment, with 99% of COVID-19 cases being the Delta variant according to the CDC. The MU variant is the 5th variant of interest, and those ranked higher include the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma variants. All variants of interest are being monitored by the World Health Organization, who will also be looking at how the Delta variant interacts with the MU variant.