A mutant coronavirus has emerged, even more contagious than the original, study says

[denem]

Source: LA Times

Scientists have identified a new strain of the coronavirus that has become dominant worldwide and appears to be more contagious than the versions that spread in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated quickly to the East Coast of the United States and has been the dominant strain across the world since mid-March, the scientists wrote.

In addition to spreading faster, it may make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease, the report warned.

(snip) Wherever the new strain appeared, it quickly infected far more people than the earlier strains that came out of Wuhan, China, and within weeks it was the only strain that was prevalent in some nations, according to the report. The new strain's dominance over its predecessors demonstrates that it is more infectious, according to the report, though exactly why is not yet known.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/mutant-coronavirus-emerged-even-more-110046843.html

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This is the variant that hit New York. Analysis of reports from Wuhan before the lockdown suggests that SARS-Cov-2 had an R0 of 5.7. A more contagious strain is mind-blowing.

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R!

[denem]

3. Good news. Time to re-open bars, gyms and movie theaters.

[SheltieLover]

9. Right?

WTH? 😳🤯

[machoneman]

13. Good times!

[denem]

15. Take off our masks

and let the good times roll.

[Eyeball_Kid]

22. An undertaker's wet dream. n/t

[gademocrat7]

2. K&R!

[TomCADem]

4. Ugh. Is Trump Now Going to Say Germany Invented It?

This is why you can’t just ignore an emerging epidemic. Viruses do not know borders. However, Trump is not interested in solving problems. He just wants to make himself rich and find scapegoats.

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. Good to see some states are taking care of their citizens despite trump

Wish they all would.

[abqtommy]

5. I'm sure glad that there are people smarter than me working on this. It sure makes me sad that

tRUMP/reTHUGS/cultists are involved...

[still_one]

6. The question is, is it more lethal?

[denem]

10. We know where it emerged

... Italy.

[Texin]

19. Exactly! Anecdotal reports indicate that this strain of CV-19 emerged in November

and possibly earlier in Italy and throughout Europe.

[Igel]

29. The preprint indicates it was present in Wuhan early on.

Lots of diversity in Wuhan (where it first spread). So, no, you can't blame the Italians in the effort to protect our buddy, the PRC.

The article's authors had to take paints to distinguish between preferential transmission rates and founder effects.

I want to reread the thing after peer review. I can see a few things I don't like, but don't know hardly enough to follow their logic through to any conclusion I trust.

[denem]

31. I am only suggesting the virus could have mutated in Italy.

I like you, am looking forward to the peer reviewed publication.

[NickB79]

45. Even if it's not, it will still kill more people

By simply sell infecting more people in a shorter period of time.

Quantity over quality.

[sop]

7. Wonder who Trump will blame for this new strain?

[IronLionZion]

11. Mexico

because of Corona beer. It's no coincidence that we're hearing about this on Cinco De Mayo.

[Sancho]

23. those damn Scandinavians....

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. tRump couldn't imagine white people spreading so he didn't close Europe for 5 weeks & UK 1 wk more.

[niyad]

12. KNR

[Mike 03]

14. This is a serious development

I wonder if this is actually related to the early stories (February or March) of their being both an L-Type and S-Type strain? Or is this a step even beyond that?

We really can't end the lockdowns. We may have two strains just in the United States. That has been a suspicion for a long time.

[denem]

16. It changes the narrative.

China and Korea were dealing with the original strain. The second wave in Singapore and Japan may be the variant.

[Blue_playwright]

32. I wonder if the two strains ...

Have something to do with the oddity of some people being so sick while others have no symptoms at all?

[AllyCat]

17. This really may be Captain Trips

So worried for my kids, family, self, and community.

[Texin]

18. It's just one new fresh hell every day now.

[Mike 03]

24. +1

You said it.

[turbinetree]

20. And Trump will come out and say everything is fine in fact in his lunatic mind

he might even have a song..........during his next presser any suggestions...............I have couple...........

[Mike 03]

21. This is a most important article.

Even if the new strain is no more dangerous than the others, it could still complicate efforts to bring the pandemic under control. That would be an issue if the mutation makes the virus so different from earlier strains that people who have immunity to them would not be immune to the new version.

If that is indeed the case, it could make "individuals susceptible to a second infection," the study authors wrote.

It’s possible that the mutation changes the spike in some way that helps the virus evade the immune system, said Montefiori, who has worked on an HIV vaccine for 30 years. “It is hypothetical. We are looking at it very hard.”

This could possibly explain those rare, reported cases of individuals who've "recovered" from COVID-19 and tested negative being reinfected and testing positive again.

[PSPS]

25. "testing positive again"

This could possibly explain those rare, reported cases of individuals who've "recovered" from COVID-19 and tested negative being reinfected and testing positive again.

The latest I've heard on that is that those post-recovery positives were false positives. The RNA tests they used were reacting to the presence of a leftover fragment of the virus which was inactive. The patients weren't getting sick again and subsequent tests showed them clear.

[JudyM]

47. Also seems that there were false negatives, meaning that they hadn't actually cleared the virus

in the first place. This continues to be a problem with our testing.

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. WARNING: THIS DATA HAS NOT BEEN PEER REVIEWED, AND THUS MUST BE CONSIDERED INCONCLUSIVE

If we are going to rely on science rather than hysteria, then Let’s be scientific, not hysterical.

[denem]

27. The Los Alamos National Laboratory is a hysterical, flakey institution :sarcasm:

Given we are talking genomics, I take at face value their finding of a variation in the genome. I also take at face value their finding that the identified variant is dominant in Europe and the United States. The conclusion that the the variant is more contagious is trivial.

[Fiendish Thingy]

28. And yet it is that trivial conclusion that is headlined and in the foreground nt

[ancianita]

37. I read absolutely NO such conclusion headlined and in the foreground. It says "now" and "appears."

You're seeing something that's not there.

[ancianita]

36. We are in an ongoing, unfinished, unmapped process. OF COURSE it's inconclusive. Nothing it studies

is conclusive yet!

That doesn't mean we diminish each new inconclusive study, does it.

Where would we be if we took that approach. Dead.

[Chemisse]

49. People need to recognize that these new studies are suggestive, not conclusive.

When I see something like this, I look around and/or wait for additional supportive information. It's not the same as peer review, of course. We don't have time for that. But it lends enough credence to move forward on that supposition.

Many people are wading through scientific reports for the first time in their lives and should not be encouraged to automatically believe the results of every reputable study that has not yet been challenged.

[ancianita]

50. Exactly. This ISN'T a race of equals.This isn't about second guessing the expertise of scientists.

[Chemisse]

51. Oh no, definately not!! I see your point. n/t

[Steelrolled]

38. Your comment is most important

There is so much stuff coming out without review. And even preview sites like biorxiv.org aren't fast enough for some authors, so they are promoting their work in other ways.

Remember the S. Korean researches who announced evidence of reinfection, and a few weeks later said it was measurement error? They did the right thing, but the initial findings caused a lot of doomsday stories.

[ffr]

30. Yay.

[kairos12]

33. Add this item to the Waffle House menus.

[denem]

34. I'm thinking adding to WH Big Mac special sauce.

[JudyM]

48. If only.

🙏

[bucolic_frolic]

35. Vote Red. Be Dead. CoronaVirus. /nt

[bluestarone]

40. THIS is the truth!

Great future slogan for sure!!

[yaesu]

39. most of the time when a mutation becomes more contagious it becomes less lethal

but time will tell.

[iluvtennis]

41. Gov Cuomo mentioned this in his daily brief on Monday - scary stuff. nt

[zentrum]

42. Gaia is done with us.

[Delphinus]

43. I am quite

confused by this. Today I was listening to an NPR program, Here and Now, and they had a science researcher on that said the virus didn't mutate that much.

[Fiendish Thingy]

44. Scientific rebuttal from a virologist on the L.A. Times irresponsible reporting :

Link to tweet

[NickB79]

46. The Los Alamos researchers were able to document the mutated form replacing the original

As it spread across Europe and the US over two month's time.

Other than straight up Darwinian selection for a more transmissible virus, what explains this?