A new, made in the USA variant:
"Two studies due to come out soon suggest the variant, which the virologists call B.1.427/B.1.429, might not only be more contagious, but may also cause more severe disease.
A team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), tested virus samples from recent outbreaks across the state and found the new variant was becoming far more common. It wasn't seen in any samples from September but by the end of January it was found in half of them.
A major caveat: the research is in its very early stages, has not been published or peer-reviewed and needs more work.
The scientists say the variant has a different pattern of mutations than the ones first seen in the United Kingdom and South Africa. One of its mutations affects the spike protein of the virus, which is the part that attaches to cells the virus infects. Dr. Charles Chiu, associate director of the clinical microbiology lab at UCSF and the study's lead, said the mutation might make the virus more efficient at docking to cells, increasing its infectiousness.
Chiu's team also found some evidence it is more dangerous. The scientists said they observed "increased severity of disease" associated with the new variant, including "increased risk of high oxygen requirement." Their report will be posted to a preprint server later this week after public health officials in San Francisco review it. "
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/med...rwS?li=AAggNb9
It would be great if they would wait until they know if a variant is, in fact, more contagious or can cause more serious COVID prior to making it known.