A 'double mutant' coronavirus variant found in India was spotted in California - but there's no

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

evidence it's 'doubly scary'

Another worrisome coronavirus variant has made its global debut.

Scientists from the Indian state of Maharashtra identified a new strain two weeks ago that's linked to between 15% and 20% of cases there.

The variant has earned the somewhat ominous nickname "double mutant" because it has an unprecedented combination of two mutations that may help it both attach better to human cells and hide from the immune system.

Just 24 hours after Indian officials reported the variant, it also popped up in northern California. Researchers from the Clinical Virology Lab at Stanford identified this "double mutant" in a sample from a patients in the San Francisco Bay Area. They suspect another seven cases are linked to the variant.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/a-double-mutant-coronavirus-variant-found-in-india-was-spotted-in-california-but-theres-no-evidence-its-doubly-scary/ar-BB1fmrTK

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Are we going to be playing Mutant Whack-a-Mole, now?

Another good reason to wear masks, socially space, and help kills virus propagation opportunities.

[crickets]

2. 👆 This.

[2naSalit]

3. I figure I'll still be wearing masks next year at this time.

[BradAllison]

4. We should be anyway.

Japan never stopped wearing them after 2003 SARS.

[2naSalit]

5. Indeed, all my acquaintances from...

Thailand and Japan wear them when in public. When I worked at a national park a few years back, lots of tourists from China were wearing them.

Lest we forget, the pandemic of 1918 lasted over three years. And they had the same kind of assholes who wouldn't wear masks back then too. At least we have a vaccine. Antivaxers who do contract it will either die from the initial illness or residual organ damage at a later date. But they are also facilitating mutant variants which is a problem.