COVID Rears Its Ugly Head Again With The Emergence Of Quickly Spreading New Variant

Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on our country for over a year. The extremely contagious delta variant has caused chaos, overextending our hospitals and staff capabilities. As that wasn’t enough, the mu coronavirus variant has now been detected in 49 states and 42 countries.

Health officials are keeping an eye on the mu strain also known as B.1.621 to see if it becomes dominant. First identified in Colombia in January the strain was added to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “variants of interest” list, the variant has now been detected in 49 states and the District of Columbia, the one exception being Nebraska. The variant is more prevalent in Alaska and Hawaii, however, nationwide the variant has been detected in less than 1% of samples.

On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical advisor, and leading infectious disease expert, said 99% of positive cases are attributed to the delta variant. He also stated that the mu variant has mutations that “indicate that it might evade the protection from certain antibodies.”

Fauci said the mu variant is “not an immediate threat.”

California reported the highest number of samples with the mu variant, with at least 384 cases that equate to .2% of the States total.

“The Mu variant is found to have key mutations linked to greater transmissibility and the potential to evade antibodies,” a statement from LA County Public Health reads. “More studies are needed to determine whether Mu variant is more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to vaccine and treatments than other COVID-19 strains.”

“The identification of variants like mu, and the spreading of variants across the globe, highlights the need for L.A. County residents to continue to take measures to protect themselves and others,” Dr. Barbara Ferra, director of LA County Public Health, added. “This is what makes getting vaccinated and layering protections so important. These are actions that break the chain of transmissions and limit COVID-19 proliferation that allows for the virus to mutate into something that could be more dangerous.”