US unwilling to track Covid variants as Delta mutation spreads

There is no good place to stand inside the Pandemic Response Lab’s sequencing facility in Queens, NY Take a misstep, and you block a clothed lab tech as it transports a plate with the RNA from 384 Covid-19 test samples to a machine that runs a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), identifies the positives and extracts them with a robotic arm. A data scientist rushes in, bringing more RNA samples to a device that will convert them into DNA. In the corner are genomic sequencing machines that put together chopped pieces of this DNA to identify a patient’s form of SARS-CoV-2. Name one mutation you’ve heard of, and this lab has seen it, as it participates in national and global efforts to sequence viral genomes, spot new and dangerous variations, and stop their spread.

Megaphone.fm: More variations are coming. Does the U ….