New coronavirus mutation could be evolving to get around mask-wearing and hand-washing

[Celerity]

Covid-19 may have become more contagious as it has mutated, the largest genetic study carried out in the US into the virus has suggested

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/24/new-coronavirus-mutation-could-evolving-get-around-mask-wearing/



Covid-19 may have become more contagious as it has mutated, the largest genetic study carried out in the US into the virus has suggested, as scientists warn it could be adapting to interventions such as mask-wearing and social distancing. One variant of the novel coronavirus is now one of the most dominant in America, accounting for 99.9 per cent of cases in one area studied. The paper concluded that a mutation that changes the structure of the “spike protein” on the surface of the virus may be driving the outsized spread of that particular strain.

Researchers have been sequencing the genomes of the coronavirus at Houston Methodist, one of the largest hospitals in Texas, since early March, when the virus first appeared in the city. To date, they have documented 5,085 sequences. In the first wave of the outbreak in Houston around March, some 71 per cent of the viruses were characterised by the mutation, which originated in China and is known as D614G. By the second wave, which began in May and is ongoing, the D614G mutation leaped to 99.9 per cent prevalence. A tiny tweak in the spike protein of the dominant variant switches an amino acid from aspartic acid to glycine. The new mutation appears to be outdistancing all of its competitors. The graphic below explains more.



The researchers, who include some from the University of Chicago and the University of Texas at Austin, found that people infected with this strain had higher "loads" of virus in their upper respiratory tracts, which allows a virus to spread more effectively. One of the authors offered that D614G has been increasingly dominant in Houston and other areas because it is better adapted to spreading among humans. "Strains with a Gly614 amino acid replacement in the spike protein, a polymorphism that has been linked to increased transmission and in vitro cell infectivity, increased significantly over time and caused virtually all Covid-19 cases in the massive second disease wave," according to the authors.

Their paper, published on Wednesday by preprint server MedRxiv, however, did not find that it was more deadly. A similar study published in the UK had similar results, finding that D614G was increasing in frequency at “an alarming rate” and had rapidly become the dominant Covid-19 lineage in Europe and had then taken hold in the US, Canada and Australia. By failing to control the spread in the US - which has the highest number of cases in the world - the virus has been given more opportunity to mutate in a shorter amount of time. David Morens, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told the Washington Post the findings point to the possibility that the virus has become more transmissible and that this “may have implications for our ability to control it”.



snip

[Rebl2]

1. Well I

figured it would happen, but not this soon. Just great. What else is 2020 going to throw at us.

[roamer65]

2. Covidiots are to blame for the propogation of this strain.

This is what no masks, no social distancing and reopening schools does for a virus.

[BComplex]

8. That's true. This is spreading because nobody mandated stopping the LESS virulent strain.

Now that opportunity has passed us by.

This strain really is the trump virus.

[SoonerPride]

3. I have pretty much given up hope on the virus

I think it is inevitable that everyone will get it and millions will die

A vaccine won’t work effectively enough to stop mutating strains

I just hope when I get it it doesn’t kill me

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. Thanks Donald Trump!

You fucked up and we are paying the price. Some with their lives.

[BComplex]

9. I hope it doesn't to, Sooner.

It's nasty stuff.

[BootinUp]

4. Survival of the fittest in action.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I don't know the science well enough to make an intelligent comment,

but I can point out that a shockingly large number of people with masks are either wearing the wrong kind (NO to the ones with valves) or wearing them wrong, not over the nose, or pulling it down to talk. Makes me quite crazy.

And some of those people are going to test positive for Covid-19 or actually get sick, and they'll claim they did everything right, when they didn't.

So, this doesn't even need to mutate to continue to do a lot of damage.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

17. I was at a nursery in May and the employees were obviously told to wear masks. However,

many had them around their necks, but were not working directly with customers (though, they were in customer areas.)

One of the check-out clerks would come out from behind the counter when no one was in line. A couple of customers kept asking her questions. Every time she answered them, she moved closer to them and pulled her mask down.

I approached to a distance of about 10 feet and explained to her that when we talk (or sing, or yell, or cough, etc.) we are most likely to be spreading the virus and therefore most need the mask to protect others. She just stared at me. The customers (properly wearing their masks) laughed, though I couldn't tell if in agreement with me or what, exactly.

I tried to keep my tone civil, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded, because I found it hard to believe anyone could be so damn stupid.

[PSPS]

7. This is pretty click-baity

The D614G glycine mutation is not anything new. It was well documented in April and was, in fact, the dominant strain in Europe's initial outbreak.

[nilram]

15. Not new, but a good confirming study. Almost makes it sound like Houston is special

on this, but it's not.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. That asshole is literally killing around the world. His ignorance and

Nihilistic malignant narcissism is officially a global threat of the highest magnitude.

[Boogiemack]

11. Just wondering how it gets around masks and hand-washing?

Must be that the eyes and ears are vulnerable??? Weill we soon need goggles and ear plugs?
Not trying to be funny but this is some serious stuff to be concerned about.

[ecstatic]

12. I feel like a fool sometimes, but I try to wear shades

and gloves when I'm out and about. I do not touch my phone when in the store, and I keep my credit card in my pocket so I don't have to fish through my purse.

But yeah, it's probably not going to help now that all the mutations are floating around.

[Baclava]

13. "Might" Could" "A possibility".... Yeah, no, maybe I'll wait for some more evidence, yeah, that one

[ProfessorGAC]

16. +1

There's a lot of squishy in that piece.
Besides, as someone above stated, we've known the dominant variant here is not the one from China, for months.
And, 99.9% suggests, given the test method precision & accuracy, means essentially all.
I'm thinking there's nothing new, here.
Just fear mongering.

[MustLoveBeagles]

14. Bookmarked