Health workers will conduct free Covid-19 tests on people in their cars in the parking lot of the Columbus West Family Health and Wellness Center in Columbus, Ohio on Nov. 19, 2020.
Stephen Zenner | AFP | Getty Images
Researchers in Ohio said on Wednesday they have discovered two new variants of the coronavirus that likely originated in the US – one of which quickly became the dominant species in Columbus, Ohio over a three-week period in late December and January.
Like the strain first discovered in the UK, the US mutations appear to make Covid-19 more contagious, but don’t appear to diminish the vaccine’s effectiveness, researchers said.
The Ohio State University researchers have not yet published their full findings, but said a non-peer-reviewed study is forthcoming. They said in a press release that the new variant has three gene mutations “not seen together before in” the coronavirus.
One of the new strains, found in just one patient in Ohio, contains a mutation identical to the now dominant variant in the UK, researchers said, noting that it “likely originated in a virus strain already found in the United States. States is present ”. However, the “Columbus strain”, which the researchers say has become dominant in the city, includes “three other gene mutations not previously seen together in SARS-CoV2”.
“This new Columbus strain has the same genetic backbone as previous cases we’ve studied, but these three mutations represent significant evolution,” said Dr. Dan Jones, vice chairman of Ohio State’s department of molecular pathology, said in a statement. “We know this shift was not from the UK or South African branches of the virus.”
The researchers identified the strain that became dominant in Columbus as COH.20G / 501Y and said that “the same mutation can occur independently in multiple parts of the world in recent months.”
Peter Mohler, Chief Scientific Officer at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center and co-author of the upcoming study, said there is no data to suggest the new strain will affect vaccine effectiveness.
“It is important that we do not overreact to this new variant until we have additional data,” he said in a statement. “We need to understand the impact of mutations on the transmission of the virus, the prevalence of the strain in the population and whether it has a greater impact on human health.
Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. The Ohio researchers will hold a press briefing on their discovery at 11 a.m. ET.
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