Virus Variant Vexation

LetMeIn.to
3 min readDec 22, 2020

It’s been all over the news and has likely already been working on your blood pressure and cortisol levels: There is a new virus in town and IT’S EVEN WORSE!

Don’t panic meme
Nothing to see here.

Let’s take 5 minutes to examine the facts and decide how worried we should be:

Yes, new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have emerged. One in the UK and one in SA which has rapidly become the dominant variant.
No, this is not a new virus and importantly, these are variants, not strains (although the naming of viruses is not without complexity, see here).

Variants emerge as a result of mutation, a very common occurrence for coronaviruses. The variant detected in South Africa called 501.V2 contains some new mutations which affect the spike protein of the virus. The spike protein allows the virus particle to bind to and infect human cells, this means that mutations here can affect how infectious a virus is.

Early data would seem to show that these new variants are indeed more infectious, this means that the virus is more easily passed from one person to another. Increased infectiousness of 70% has been quoted in a study but more research is required to verify this.

There is currently no evidence to indicate that the new variants cause more severe COVID or result in higher hospitalisation and death rates.

This may change with time as new data becomes available.

The virus is still treated in exactly the same way and there is no reason to believe that the recently developed vaccines might not work against the variants.

What is abundantly clear is that we are not out of this pandemic just yet and that measures to contain the virus are more important than ever. All of the advice which has been drilled into us over the past year to prevent transmission still applies and is perhaps even more relevant with the virus being more contagious than before.

The timing could not be worse. Everyone is trying to wind down after a highly stressful year and preparing for the festive season and new year celebrations.

Unfortunately, this festive season cannot be celebrated as you normally would.

Large gatherings are irresponsible and would put the vulnerable members of your family and society at large at high risk. Use this period to connect with your intimate family, switch off and chill. If planning a gathering, make sure that it is small, outdoors and that the prescribed hygiene and distancing practises are observed.

When it comes to returning to the office in the new year, screening and access management solutions such as our CoronaFighter product will be essential to limit the spread of the new variant in the workplace.

Stay safe and enjoy the (muted) festive celebrations.

The LetMeIn Team

LetMeIn.to

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