Intro
One of the hallmarks of a virus is their ability to rapidly mutate and evolve. Viruses from the flu to HIV to COVID are all known for rapidly mutating. Viruses are known and expected to change through DNA replication where mistakes in transcription often leads to mutations.
What is a variant?
A variant is a strand of a virus that has one or more genetic mutations. Right now the CDC is tracking around 11 different variants of COVID which you can view here.
Variant classification
Variants can be classified into 4 groups depending on their severity of symptoms, how fast they can spread, or how they are treated. The four groups are: Variants Being Monitored, Variants of Concern, Variants of Interest or Variants of High Consequence based. Each has their own specific criteria which you can view on the CDC website.
What should we do with this information?
Some variants, such as the Omicron variant, are more impactful than others. Currently, this variant is responsible for the majority of the cases in the US and is more contagious than previous variants such as Delta but is less virulent. We should keep tracking variants to stay ahead of the curve and should be aware that different variants may be more resistant to current treatment efforts such as the COVID vaccine.
