It Is Not Over Yet! Be Vigilant! COVID Variants Are More Infectious
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For updated global info & data on COVID-19, please click HERE.
For updated global data & graphs on COVID-19, please click HERE.
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For COVID-19 cases in Florida via Florida COVID Action, please click HERE.
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Around the world, there is now much concern about the newly mutated strains of coronavirus as health officials race to vaccinate as many people as possible. Dr. Jon LaPook reports on why the new strains are popping up, in a 60 Minutes episode, in the video published on March 14, 2021, “How do coronavirus variants form and will the current vaccines work against them?” below:
Many positive samples from waste water and nasal swab had been sent to Scripps Research, where infectious disease Anderson Lab perform genetic sequencing and identify any variations, to see how the disease is evolving, transmitting, and changing. Genetic sequences from around the world are constantly being analyzed by the data base Nextstrain, to analyze how variants are spreading. Since the original COVID -19 strain was identified in December of 2019, thousands of variants have been documented. There are three “variants of concern” that scientists are keeping a close eye on due to their greater transmissibility.
Of the three “variants of concern”: UK (B.1.1.7 variant), Brazil (P.1. variant), and South Africa (B.1.351 variant), scientists at CDC believe that the UK variant will be the dominant strain in U.S. in the coming month. The variant from Brazil and South Africa have already spread to dozens of countries, including U.S. Variants arise because the Sars-CoV-2 virus is constantly making copies of itself. As it replicates, mistakes or mutations would occur in its genetic codes, some of these mutations may team up and lead to more dangerous variants of the virus. These variants are far more infectious than the earlier COVID strains.
Dr. David Ho of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, known for his ground-breaking HIV research, was working to identify which variant is present in New York City and discovered that in addition to the sporadic UK, Brazil, and South Africa variants, there is the New York City variant, dominating and rising rapidly, doubling every two weeks. Dr. Ho stressed that vaccines may not protect against infection, but it may protect against the disease or death.
In the video below, Dr. Seheult discusses the SARS CoV 2 mutations research and how well will COVID-19 vaccines work against the coronavirus variants first discovered in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil, in the video published on Feb 24, 2021, “Coronavirus Update 123: COVID 19 Vaccines vs. Variants“, below:
So far, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines appear to be effective against the UK variant. In the past week, a small lab found that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine also elicit the same strong immune response from Brazilian variant as against the original virus. Drug companies are working to retool their vaccines to create booster shots as needed, to keep up with the variant.
In the video, Dr. Seheult discusses the coronavirus first discovered in California and New York, and whether or not these SARS-CoV-2 variants will be more transmissible or cause more severe COVID 19 disease, “Coronavirus Update 124: California and New York Variants (COVID 19 Mutations“, below:
University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Medical Center also found that cases of COVID variant first discovered in Denmark have spiked in the past few weeks. This variant is not as transmissible as the UK, Brazil, and South Africa variants, but is spreading fast, in the video published on Feb 22, 2021, “New COVID-19 Variant Spreading Fast in California: Study“, below:
Professor Seheult, MD explains the importance of Vitamin D in prevention and treatment of COVID-19. In this video, Dr. Seheult demonstrates how Vitamin D works, summarizes the best available data and clinical trials on Vitamin D and recommended dosage level for vitamin D, in the video published on Dec 10, 2020, “Vitamin D and COVID 19: The Evidence for Prevention and Treatment of Coronavirus (SARS CoV 2)“, below:
Professor Seheult, MD shares fascinating research and links between stress, anxiety, depression, and immune system, including: how do Olympic athletes optimize health in preparation for competition, how do stress, anxiety, and depression impact our immune system on a cellular level, and what are the implications of this for COVID-19, in the video published on March 9, 2021, “Stress and COVID 19: Improving The Immune System, Anxiety, and Depression“, below:
Moral of the story: It is not over yet! Americans need to get vaccinated. Even after being vaccinated, be sure to avoid large gatherings, and wear masks to prevent the virus from spreading and mutating even more. Find ways to destress and making sure that you are getting sufficient Vitamin D.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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