Experts: Morecontagious strain of virus may already be in Conn.
The first known U.S. cases of a new COVID strain have been reported this week in Colorado and California. And health experts say the mutation likely already exists elsewhere.
Public health experts, Gov. Ned Lamont and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said it’s possible the variant of the coronavirus is already circulating undetected.
But they also say the COVID vaccines should be effective in curbing the new strain, which is officially called B.1.1.7 and was first seen in the United Kingdom where it has become “highly prevalent” in London and southeast England, according to the CDC.
“Given that domestic and international human mobility is still taking place in the U.S., and considering that the lineage B.1.1.7 was already detected in an individual in Colorado, with no travel history, this new variant is likely already in circulation in the U.S., including Connecticut,” said Anderson Brito, a postdoctoral associate at Yale University’s School of Public Health.
Changes in the virus come when it repeatedly replicates itself inside a host’s body.
“Once viruses invade our cells, they make copies of themselves, and in this process, their genetic material needs to be copied as well, following a process that is prone to errors,” Brito said. “Such ‘errors,’ which lead to changes in the viral genome, are random.”
Many of those changes put the virus at a disadvantage. Others are “neutral” and stick around as the virus replicates itself.
“Only a minority,” Brito said, give the virus an advantage.
The CDC notes that viral variants often emerge or disappear. But what worries scientists is how quickly the strain has emerged as a common variant of the virus in the U.K.
“We know that viruses mutate,” said Dr. David Banach, head of infection prevention at UConn Health.
“We know that viruses mutate. The strains that tend to spread the most become the predominant strain.” Dr. David Banach, Head of infection prevention at UConn Health
“The strains that tend to spread the most become the predominant strain,” he added, noting that the same process happens with the flu.
He said he was “less concerned” about the impact the new strain could have on the two U.S. vaccines, which target the spikey protein on the outside of the virus that helps it invade human cells.
The mutation affects part of the protein, but the immune response to the vaccine targets “multiple” parts of the spike protein, according to Banach.
Brito said independent groups are studying whether the new variants of the coronavirus can impact the vaccines’ effectiveness.
“Variants are being monitored worldwide, and if any set of mutations decrease
vaccine efficacy to a large extent, vaccine companies, especially those developing mRNA vaccines, can replace the spike sequences used in their vaccines, in a matter of weeks, producing new formulations that target the known viral diversity,” he said.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the one developed by Moderna use messenger RNA to teach the body to develop antibodies against the spike protein.
Deidre Gifford, acting commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, said it’s important for the public to simply continue following the COVID safety protocols.
She urged residents to wear a mask, avoid gatherings and maintain social distancing.
Preventing the virus from spreading also helps keep it from mutating, Brito pointed out.
“The longer we allow the pandemic to continue, the more variants will arise and more chances we are providing to viruses to try out several combinations of mutations,” he said. “We must remember: viruses only mutate if they keep infecting us.”