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NEW YORK (AP) – Another mutated version of the coronavirus has emerged in New York City and experts have responded to the news with a mixture of caution and concern.
The new variant first appeared in the New York area at the end of November, and has since sprung up in neighboring states, according to researchers at the California Institute of Technology, one of two teams to share their work this week.
But just how problematic the variant can be is not yet known. Viruses are constantly changing – or typing mistakes in their genetic code – as they spread and reproduce.
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“Most are not of particular concern,” said Francois Balloux, director of the Institute of Genetics at University College London. However, he added, “It helps to notice them early, to report them, to raise concerns.”
This is because some genetic changes can be worrying, especially if they help the virus spread more easily, make it more deadly, or reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. Scientists are using genome sequencing and other research to determine what the potential problems are.
New York City health officials and Mayor Bill de Blasio sought Thursday to allay concerns about the new variant, noting that the new research was preliminary and little was known about the variant.
A man walks past an empty retail store, left, available for rent, Monday, February 8, 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic in New York City. (AP Photo / Mark Lennihan)
“Some variations are just that, they are variations.” said Dr Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior health adviser.
Two research groups – at Caltech and Columbia University in New York – published papers this week describing their findings on the new variant. Neither article has been published or reviewed by other scientists.
Caltech researchers found that the new variant appeared in about a quarter of the 1,200 viral sequences examined this month. The variant has also appeared in New Jersey and Connecticut and made “isolated appearances across the country,” said Anthony West of CalTech, co-author of the article.
Columbia University researchers on Thursday published their research that looked at around 1,100 virus samples from patients treated at the university’s medical center, as of November. In the second week of February, the new variant was identified in 12% of the samples, they reported. They also found that patients infected with the mutated virus were more likely to be older and to have been hospitalized.
Both groups noted that the new variant has a mutation that could potentially weaken vaccine effectiveness – a mutation seen in other disturbing variants.
A man walks on a bicycle, Monday, February 8, 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic in New York. (AP Photo / Mark Lennihan)
“There is clearly something to watch out for,” Balloux said.
New variants have emerged throughout the pandemic, but three are considered to be the most worrying – they have been referred to as ‘variants of concern’. They were first detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, but have spread to other countries.
The one identified in the UK late last year has since been found in 45 US states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The strain is of concern because it has so many mutations, nearly two dozen. Some are on the spinous protein that the virus uses to attach itself to and infect cells – and that current vaccines and antibody drugs target.
One of the spike protein mutations is seen in the variants discovered early in Brazil and South Africa, and now in the new variant in New York.
A variant that has spread to California is also attracting attention. It was found in 40 to 50 percent of samples examined by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, according to director Barbara Ferrer. But there isn’t enough rigorous research to determine what effect, if any, her mutations might have.
Doctors administer the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at the NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital on Friday, January 8, 2021 in Bronxville, New York (AP Photo / Kevin Hagen).
After what many have described as a slow start, the federal government has, in recent weeks, stepped up its genetic sequencing to find and study virus variants to determine which ones may be problematic. In the meantime, Ana S. Gonzalez Reiche, virologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has called for caution.
“Without evidence, we don’t need to be alarmed about every variant we find,” she says.
Studies raise concerns that first-generation COVID-19 vaccines may not work as well against a variant that first appeared in South Africa as against other versions. In response, pharmaceutical companies are already figuring out how to modify their vaccines.
Experts say that in the meantime, public health measures such as social distancing and masks will reduce the possibilities for the coronavirus to continue to mutate and become mainstream.
“The emergence of variants will happen,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, told NBC on Thursday. “The trick is when they happen, to keep them from spreading.”
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