7/4: Houston's Mutated Covid-19 Strain Is More Contagious than the Original

July 4, 2020


Two research studies and several papers suggest that a hypercontagious strain of COVID-19 has taken root in the Houston area.

"The Masque for the COVID-19
Could Save Your Life,"
says Edgar Allen Poe

“It is safe to say this version is more infectious,” says Joseph Petrosino, Baylor's chair of molecular virology and microbiology.

The research is preliminary. Still, up to 80% of the viruses analyzed at Baylor have the mutated strain. Researchers at New York Genome Center found a huge increase in transmission when they switched from the original virus to the mutated one.

"Over time, it has figured out how to hold on better and not fall apart until it needs to,” noted a Scripps Research Institute scientist.  Even so, Baylor's Petrosino attributes the current spike in case numbers to Houstonians' behavior. After many weeks of isolation, people just want to get out and socialize. Gatherings mean more cases and more deaths.

"The Masque of the Red Death," Poe's 1842 horror story, is only a few steps away from the reality among gregarious Houston residents today.

Is there any way to get through to partiers and socializers who, thinking their risk is low, have thrown caution away?

How close a friend or relative has to die before partiers take note and stay home? Who has to speak to get socializers to listen? Stars? "Social influencers?" And when will it end?



https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/coronavirus-evidence-growing-houston-strain-mutant-15386157.php