North Carolina just got hit with
a new variant of coronavirus.
Doctors say this one potentially
spreads faster than Delta,
but how much faster?
The answer can be found in what
gets flushed down the drain.
Plus it seems like there's a steady stream
of new variants popping up all the time.
Doctors are worried one day they'll be a
variant that will outsmart the vaccine.
But researchers at Duke and UNC
has some good news on that front.
Let's dig into it.
COVID-19 continues
mutating into new variants.
Doctors have found so many at this
point you could make a family tree.
There is the AD Lambda and the
new variants, just to name a few.
Plus North Carolina just confirmed its first
case of a new variant called Delta Plus.
Now to really understand what this
means for you, let's take a closer
look at where Delta plus comes from.
Its branch of that family tree.
We started with the original
coronavirus from there.
It was developed into the Delta and
then spread everywhere this summer.
Now Delta has turned into delta
plus you could think of it kind
of like covid's grandchildren.
Delta Plus is in eight states now
scattered all across the country.
At the moment,
researchers with the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center
say the new Delta Plus variant
is slightly more contagious.
A sick person spread the original
coronavirus to one or two people.
Delta increased that number to.
Between three or four to six,
and doctors say someone sick with delta
plus could infect as many as eight people,
but doctors say we don't want to
hit the panic button just yet.
The state only has one confirmed case so far.
I'm Ben Briscoe from now until six,
we're going to dig into this delta plus,
and how health officials plan to
minimize your risk from this and
other future mutations of the virus.
The CDC says the original Delta variant
should still be our primary concern.
Is the main strain spreading among
people and it gave the agency
a wake up call this summer.
The Delta variant reminded us we need
to be humble in our response to this
virus and to follow the science as we
modify guidance and address the pandemic.
Here are a few things we've
learned over the last four months.
First, the Delta variant is notably
more contagious and spreads
faster than previous variants.
Second, though,
breakthrough infections are infrequent
vaccinated individuals who are infected
with delta are able to transmit the virus.
And third, while we have seen
waning vaccine induced immunity.
In certain populations,
leading us to recommend the
rollout of booster shots,
COVID-19 vaccines are still highly
effective and provides strong protection,
particularly against severe
disease hospitalization and death.
I don't know about you,
but every time I see one of these
stories about a new variant popping up,
my heart kind of skips a beat.
It's a little scary.
Doctors say it is normal
for viruses to mutate.
They expected this.
All RNA viruses change and evolve overtime.
As they spread small changes
to their genes happen.
Eventually the changes become significant
enough that they form variants.
That's why doctors have found so many.
In fact, a John Hopkins doctor says experts
discover new COVID variance every week,
but only a few of them are important
enough to let the public know.
Let's compare that to the flu.
Each year, a new strain of the
flu or variant goes around.
That's why doctors suggest
getting a new flu shot each year.
They say there's four main variants.
The flu this year, so if variants are normal,
why should you care?
Well, doctors fear that one day,
one day, maybe a new variant will form
that outsmarts our current vaccine.
Right now, doctors classify all
the most serious mutations we see.
The variants of concern that means they are
more likely to cause brakes were infections.
But doctors worry,
a mutation will become a
variant of high consequences.
Meaning,
current vaccines may not work against them.
That's why doctors want to limit
the number of variants that form.
They say the best way to do this
is by getting people vaccinated.
Researchers wanted a way to see
which variants are spreading the
fastest in their communities.
So since you can't test everyone
in the community, they decided,
hey,
let's take samples from the
city's water waste.
One of the researchers says the
other variants are out there,
but from what they've seen,
the original Delta variant
has got to be our main focus.
But I actually think what we're going
to see is that delta is going to
be the baseline from now on because
it's basically taken over everywhere.
It's been in the world.
Researchers are going to keep
monitoring the wastewater to
see if any of the trends change.
Now,
health officials and universities
across North Carolina have done
this type of research right here.
UNC Charlotte tested wastewater around
dorms and other campus buildings.
They say it helps find people
sick with COVID.
They extract RNA samples from
the water and test it.
If the test comes back,
positive school administration
knows exactly which building
it came from and they can then
decide what steps to take next.
The school says the testing.
System helps him stay ahead of
COVID outbreaks and that is not
the only COVID research going
on at North Carolina schools.
A new study from Duke and UNC shows
that COVID antibodies could be
changing with all these variants,
we're seeing the researchers on
the study think that could help
develop a new vaccine to stay
ahead of future variance.
The researchers found a small
portion of the antibodies formed
after catching the current version
of coronavirus can also fight
off other forms of COVID They
tested their theory in mice.
Researchers say it has the ability
to stop the virus from spreading.
Now the team of scientists cautioned
that more research has got to be done,
but one day the antibodies might
be the key to developing a vaccine
that covers future variants too.
A separate study published in the
scientific journal Nature found a way
to solve the problem with variance.
Also some variants resist
antibody treatments,
but the research says they found an
antibody that variants can't avoid.
They tested on hamsters.
They say it works.
Researchers think this could be used
as a treatment for other variants.
After more tests, again,
both of those studies are in the early phase,
but they are a lot of hope
for people out there,
and they suggest that we are not
just a fate of Mother Nature.
We can actually do this,
but research says the best tool we
have in fighting all this is of course,
COVID-19 vaccines,
which takes us back to that family
tree of Corona virus variants.
There's only one way from keeping
this thing from getting bigger.
We gotta chop it down.
Doctors say we can do that if everyone
gets vaccinated because the vaccines
prevent the virus from spreading,
which in turn prevents the
chances of more mutations.