A year after researchers first described the latest coronavirus, the global concern is triggered by many strains of the virus that tend to be more contagious. Although it is not believed that the latest strains are more lethal, their proliferation increases the risk of overloading health-care networks that are still stressed. Today, the vaccination efforts of nations are up to the rapidly accelerated transmission of COVID-19.
What are the forms of COVID-19?
Viruses undergo mutations over time. Scientists across the globe have reported thousands of mutant variations of the coronavirus, named varieties or strains, in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since COVID-19 made its human population debut in November 2019, it has developed at least four variants that we know of. These are the UK version, the South African version, the Brazilian variant, and the California variant.
Which threats are they posing?
The UK and South African strains are of particular interest to scientists since they appear to transmit more quickly than the initial virus. The CDC states that there is little proof that they induce more dangerous illnesses or an elevated likelihood of mortality. However, the transmission of a more contagious version may spur exponential growth in the number of cases of COVID-19, a scary scenario considering the difficulties faced by individual countries in initiating the delivery of vaccines.
Such exponential increases in cases could, in fact, contribute to more deaths: health care services could become overloaded by a rise in hospitalizations and, ultimately, unable to care for large numbers of patients with COVID-19 infections. In several areas of the United States, intensive care facilities were still close to full at the end of 2020. Medical workers have said that they would not be willing to uphold patients' high levels of treatment.
Other questions consider whether vaccinations against COVID-19 would be less successful or perhaps utterly ineffective against these versions. Experts claim the latter is impossible and that there is no proof of this yet, but the latest strains are still being tested. The head of the German vaccine manufacturer BioNTech also expressed concern that increasingly infectious viruses might render it more challenging to obtain so-called herd immunity. The criterion for effective safety in a population depends on the pace with which a virus spreads.
Should we have worried?
A specialist feels almost everybody is concerned about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations with the latest versions. Even if the advantages greatly outweigh the costs, vaccinations' unusual side effects may occur and scare people away from them. It could take a long time to address issues with vaccine delivery and production.
However, the greatest fear is that a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will learn to evade vaccinations. Paul Offit, the vaccine creator and a pediatrics professor at Philadelphia Children's Hospital, told Stat News that it's not yet time to think about the problem.
Fresh strains leaving 'less room for errors'
Despite the mutations, essential features of the virus remain intact, said Stephen Morse, who studies emerging infectious diseases at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
He told USA Today that the virus's physical features have not improved. The strain is still high, according to Morse, and can always be removed with disinfectants and cleaning products.
The thing is, we're clearly going to have even less space for risk, according to Morse. He said the safeguards we've been utilizing so far are actually working as well as they have until now.
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 on Science Times.
