STANFORD, Calif. (KRON) -- COVID-19 is the virus that keeps giving new variants even though no one asked.
The latest mutation is called the mu variant. However, a Stanford epidemiologist said there are some familiar things we can do to prevent catching the new variant.
"We expected this virus to continue evolving, changing, mutating," Dr. Jorge Salinas said. "It's not a surprise. In fact, this virus mutates less than other viruses."
Medical researchers in the U.S. are keeping a very close eye on the COVID-19 mu variant. However, the general consensus among health professionals, like Stanford hospital epidemiologist Dr. Jorge Salinas is:
"So I personally do not think that our audience needs to worry about this particular variant in general. COVID-19 is bad enough as it is," Dr. Salinas said.
Who can argue with that? COVID-19 has changed the world that we once knew but Dr. Salinas says the reason we don't have to worry about the mu variant is because the same health and safety guidance for COVID-19 and the delta variant will work against this latest variation of the coronavirus.
"The same recommendations apply to any variant which is getting vaccinated, washing your hands, maintaining social distance, wearing your mask," Dr. Salinas said.
So, now let's talk about what is known about the COVID-19 mu variant.
"It's a variant recently recognized. it's been circulating for a number of months. Initially recognized in Columbia. It has some features that make it interesting. However, it is not considered a variant of concern at the moment," Dr. Salinas said.
In fact, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Fauci says the mu variant is not even close to being as dominant as the delta variant and that vaccines are still quite effective against COVID-19 variants.
"Again, we need to take this very seriously, but the recommendations are virtually the same no matter what variant is circulating," Dr. Salinas said.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3BLkqDj
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