What you need to know about the Californian variant

by



[ad_1]

[Read the full story about the California variant.]

My colleague Carl Zimmer wrote more about it this month. So I asked him where things were and what he was looking at in the future.

Here is our conversation:

When you first wrote about the California variant – or CAL.20C, as researchers call it – scientists found it in half of the samples they collected in LA County, up from 36 % last month. Where are things now?

It’s been just over a week since we first learned about this variant, so scientists are still working to identify it and understand its evolution. It will take a few more weeks for things to start to focus.

What have scientists learned from this increase?

It is possible that the variant will increase because it has the right biology to spread faster than the other variants. It is always possible that it will become more common due to chance. But it has mutations that are known to help viruses get into cells and escape antibodies, so we have to take it very seriously.

How does the Californian variant fit in with the discovery of other variants around the world? (Is it more disturbing? Less disturbing?)

We don’t know enough about the variant yet to make these comparisons. It could be less contagious or more. This could make vaccines less effective or have no impact.

These variants seem to appear everywhere – South Africa, UK, Brazil, California and elsewhere. We are witnessing an evolutionary event on the scale of the planet.

In your report on the California variant, what was the most surprising or alarming thing you learned?

California has a pretty good variant surveillance system, thanks to some fantastic labs in the University of California system and strong collaborations with public health departments. And yet, this variant appeared in California in July and took off in November, but it didn’t get anyone’s attention until the end of December.

There will be more variations to face, and we need a better national system to stay ahead.

What are you paying attention to for the future, both with the California variant and with the release of the variants more widely?

I start a spreadsheet to keep track of all the variations.

In California, I want to know how mutations in this variant change her, if at all, from her ancestors. I suspect scientists are fed up with my emails, in which I constantly ask for new results.

Read more:

  • Vaccine makers update their plans to discuss the variants. But that doesn’t mean that current vaccines are ineffective. [The New York Times]

  • From smallpox to H1N1, this is how the last five vaccine deployments have gone. [The New York Times]

  • Yes, you can consider double masking. Learn more about this and other things you can do to avoid more contagious variants now. [The New York Times]

  • State officials gave more details on the data they used to decide it was safe to lift the strict stay-at-home orders. [The Associated Press]

If you missed it, the decision to lift the statewide stay-at-home order Monday came as a surprise. But many counties were eager to allow businesses to reopen. [The New York Times]

  • An atmospheric river brought more heavy rains to the bay area, raising concerns about flash floods and landslides in scorched areas, causing power outages and prompting evacuation orders. The storm also caused snow to fall on the Sierra. [The Mercury News]

  • Parts of the Sierra could see over eight feet of snow by Friday. [NBC Bay Area]

Learn more about atmospheric rivers. [The New York Times]

  • Five days after a woman posted on Instagram an allegation that Burger Records fostered a culture of sexual predation on teenage fans, the indie label backed down. But that was not the end of the story. [The Los Angeles Times]

  • A member of the Proud Boys who was elected to the Sacramento County Republican Party Central Committee was ordered to resign, after the party initially defended its right to run. [The Sacramento Bee]

If you missed it, find out more about the role of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, in the Capitol Riot. [The New York Times]

  • In a long contested movement, San Francisco School Board voted to remove the names of 44 schools which honored those associated with slavery, oppression and racism. Critics said the process was rushed and driven by emotion rather than research. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

  • Disneyland Jungle Cruise gets an update, after years of criticism that his portrayal of indigenous peoples is racist. The merry-go-round is one of the park’s remaining original attractions, which opened in 1955. [The Orange County Register]

  • Book review is 125 years old. As part of the celebration, here are 25 reviews from famous writers on other books. [The New York Times]

  • “This pandemic has opened our eyes to how things must change forever.” The closure of restaurants across the country has been heartbreaking. But now is the time for entrepreneurial leaders to launch tiny pop-ups., making Instagram the best take-out menu in the world. [The New York Times]

California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. PT on weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: [email protected]. Have you been forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here and read each edition online here.

Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, graduated from UC Berkeley and has reported statewide, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles – but she always wants to see more. Follow us here or on Twitter.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Berkeley.



[ad_2]

Source link