​Should I Be Worried About These New Variants? Can We Stop Them?

ACROSS AMERICA — As COVID-19 vaccination efforts continue across the country, people who are awaiting their chance to get vaccinated have many questions, including whether they should be concerned about variants of the virus.

Here are the five things you should know about the coronavirus variants:

1. What do we know about the coronavirus variants?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 that are circulating globally.

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In the United Kingdom, variant B.1.1.7 was identified in the fall of 2020. It spreads more easily than other variants and in January 2021 experts reported the variant may be associated with an increased risk of death compared to other variant viruses. This variant was first identified in the United States in December 2020.

In South Africa, another variant called B.1.351 was identified in October 2020. This variant was identified in the United States in January 2021.

In Brazil, a variant called P.1 emerged that was first identified in travelers from Brazil, who were tested during routine screening at an airport in Japan, in early January. This variant was first identified in the United States in January.

2. What can we do about the new variants?

These new variants highlight the importance of reducing the number of COVID-19 cases in our communities.

“The more virus in the community, the more opportunity for new variants to emerge and spread,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in President Joe Biden's exclusive op-ed on Patch. “The best way to stop mutations is to vaccinate as much of the public as quickly as possible along with practicing prevention actions like mask wearing and social distancing.”

The more people who get vaccinated, the less likely the variants are to spread, Walensky said.

3. What’s still unknown about the variants?

There’s much that is still unknown about the variants, including how widely the new variants have spread, how the disease caused by the new variants differs by the variants that are currently circulating and how the variants may affect existing tests and vaccines.

4. What impact do these new variants have on the pandemic?

Public health officials are currently studying the new variants to learn more about how to control the spread. The new variants spread more easily from person to person, may cause milder or more severe disease in people, may or may not be detected by currently available tests, and may or may not respond to current vaccines.

5. How many variants are in the United States right now?

As of Feb. 21, there were 1,661 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant reported in 44 states, according to CDC data. Ten states reported 22 cases of the B.1.351 variant, and four states reported five cases of the P.1 variant.