Researchers at the CDC have been working to track down the origins of those variants.<\/p>\n
ATLANTA Almost one year ago, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was working day and night to track down the origins of the coronavirus and how to stop it.<\/p>\n
Today, the work is the same, but the task is heightened. Mutated variants of COVID-19 - deviations of the virus - are now spreading around the world.<\/p>\n
As of Tuesday, there were 23 cases of the U.K. variant detected in Georgia, up from the previous 19 cases.<\/p>\n
Researchers at the CDC have been working to track down the origins of those mutations, and - just as with the original version of the virus - they are working to keep everyone safe.<\/p>\n
According to the latest forecast, the variant strain of the coronavirus that originated in the United Kingdom is spreading so rapidly that it will make up 1% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States within a couple of weeks, and rapidly take over as the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.<\/p>\n
\"Every time you encounter somebody who has an infection with one of these variants, you are much more likely to get infected,\" explained Dr. Nahid Bhadelia of Boston Medical Center.<\/p>\n
\"You are talking about a variant that might be upwards of 50% more transmissible,\" said Dr. Jodie Guest of Emory University's Rollins Schools of Public Health.<\/p>\n
\"We should see a huge surge of cases by March\" if the variant strains are able to spread unchecked, Dr. Guest said.<\/p>\n
But Guest said that, so far, social distancing and masks, along with the vaccines, have been able to stop all of the known variants. That would minimize a possible new surge.<\/p>\n
In addition, researchers are working on adapting the existing vaccines to kill even more powerful variants that may emerge.<\/p>\n
\"It's not going to take very much to reproduce the mRNA vaccine with the changes that are needed, and give everyone who's had it a booster,\" Guest said. \"But, at the moment, we don't believe that that is needed in the current state that we're in.\"<\/p>\n
As of this point, the variants are not more powerful or deadly than the original strain, but they are more contagious - and they are able to infect more people more easily and more rapidly than the original coronavirus.<\/p>\n
However, following proper health guidelines - and getting vaccinated as the vaccines become available -- will hinder and even stop the variant strains that have been discovered, so far.<\/p>\n
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Where are the mutated COVID-19 variants, spreading around the world, coming from? - 11Alive.com WXIA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers at the CDC have been working to track down the origins of those variants. ATLANTA Almost one year ago, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was working day and night to track down the origins of the coronavirus and how to stop it. Continue reading