COVID and Florida: Delta variant, mu variant, Alpha, Beta and Gamma. What to know about coronavirus strains
Jennifer SangalangA new COVID-19 variant has emerged called the mu variant.
Mu variant COVID-19C — its scientific and official name — is the fifth coronavirus variant of interest being monitored by the World Health Organization. The mu variant was marked a variant of interest by WHO, a USA TODAY article states, and has spread across Chile, Peru and parts of the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., the variant accounts for about 2,000 cases as of Sept. 3, according to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data. The states with the highest mu variant cases are California, Florida, Texas and New York.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has said mu is not "an immediate threat right now." The delta variant, however, still accounts for more than 99% of the infections in the U.S., according to the CDC.
As of Sept. 9, more than 3.5 million people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and nearly 47,000 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the U.S., more than 40.7 million people have tested positive and over 655,000 people have died since the pandemic began.
Florida reported 129,202 new coronavirus cases and 2,345 people dead in the week ending Sept. 5. Florida also ranked seventh among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
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The following is a list of COVID-19 variants with brief explanations and things to know about them. Note, this file may be updated, so check back for updates.
Variants of concern
According to WHO, these are the variants of concern as of Sept. 9: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.
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What does VOC (variant of concern) mean?
WHO explains on its site that a SARS-CoV-2 variant meets the definition of a VOI (see below) and, through a comparative assessment, is associated with one or more of the following changes at a degree of global public health significance:
• Increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology
• Increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation
• Decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics
What are the variants of interest?
According to WHO, as of Sept. 9, the variants of interest are Eta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda and Mu.
What does VOI (variant of interest) mean?
WHO explains on its site that a SARS-CoV-2 variant has two factors:
• It has genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, diagnostic or therapeutic escape.
• It is identified to cause significant community transmission or multiple COVID-19 clusters, in multiple countries with increasing relative prevalence alongside increasing number of cases over time, or other apparent epidemiological impacts to suggest an emerging risk to global public health.
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Alpha variant
Alpha variant was first documented in the United Kingdom in September 2020. Its date of designation was Dec. 18, 2020, according to WHO.
Beta variant
Beta variant was first documented in South Africa in May 2020. Its date of designation was Dec. 18, 2020.
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Gamma variant
Gamma variant was first documented in Brazil in November 2020. Is date of designation was Jan. 11.
Delta variant
Delta variant was first documented in India in October 2020. It was designated a variant of interest April 4, then upgraded to a variant of concern May 11.
Other things to know about delta:
• Fauci said the most concerning coronavirus variant remains the delta strand.
• COVID-19 cases among children are on the rise because of the delta variant's
surge and the start of a new school year, according to Dr. Ravina Kullar, infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist at UCLA.
• Delta is more contagious, more transmissible than chicken pox, about as contagious as smallpox and much more contagious than ebola, Kullar said.
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Eta variant
Eta is a variant of interest, with earliest documented samples reported in multiple countries since December 2020. Its date of designation was March 17.
Iota variant
Iota is a variant of interest, with earliest documented samples reported in the U.S. in November 2020. Its date of designation was March 24.
Kappa variant
Kappa is a variant of interest, with earliest documented samples reported in India in October 2020. Its date of designation was April 4.
Epsilon variant
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer considers epsilon a "variant of concern," but the Florida Department of Health continues to monitor it. As of Sept. 9, it's also not on WHO's list of variants of interest.
Lambda variant
Lambda is a variant of interest, with earliest documented samples reported in Peru in December 2020. Its date of designation was June 14.
Mu variant
Mu is a variant of interest, with earliest documented samples reported in Colombia in January 2021. It has since spread to parts of South Korea, Canada, Europe and Japan, according to WHO. Its date of designation was Aug. 30.
Other things to know about mu:
• The mu variant has a "constellation of mutations" that could allow it to dodge vaccine immunity, according to WHO.
• Mu has been detected in the U.S. but on a small scale. Fauci has said mu is not "an immediate threat right now."
Things to know
Full vaccinations are still encouraged, which could soon include a booster shot. Whether you're vaccinated or not, you're still going to be contagious, whether you're asymptomatic, Dr. Ravina Kullar, infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist at UCLA, said in a Just the FAQs video for USA TODAY.
Transmissibility rates in your community are based on:
• number of new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days
• percent positivity rate over the past seven days
About the names of the variants
In May, WHO created a system to name the variants to avoid confusion and address the stigma associated with location. WHO is actively tracking the variants online.
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The labels do not replace existing scientific names, like those assigned by GISAID, Nextstrain and Pango, WHO states on its site. The scientific names will still be used in research.
Contributing: Elizabeth Weise and Mike Stucka, USA TODAY