Why America is ‘flying blind’ to the coronavirus mutations racing across the globe

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Sat, 2021-01-30 12:54 — mike kraft

Why America is ‘flying blind’ to the coronavirus mutations racing across the globe America currently has so little of the genetic sequencing needed to detect mutated versions of coronavirus - like those first discovered in Britain and South Africa - that such variants are likely proliferating quickly, undetected. William Wan, Ben Guarino Washington Post

The United States is doing so little of the genetic sequencing needed to detect new variants of the coronavirus — like the ones first identified in Great Britain and South Africa — that such mutations are probably proliferating quickly, undetected, experts said.

The lack of widespread genetic sequencing means the window is closing to find and slow the spread of variants such as the one first spotted in Britain, which appears to be much more transmissible, and those initially detected in Brazil and South Africa. All have been discovered in small numbers in the United States.

Now is when genetic sequencing — a process that maps out the genetic code of the particular virus that infected someone so it can be compared with others — would do the most good, while such variants are less prevalent in the U.S. population and action can be taken against them.

“We are in a race against time because of these mutations. And in that race, we are falling behind,” said Mara G. Aspinall, a biomedical diagnostics professor at Arizona State University.

New coronavirus variants accelerate race to make sure vaccines keep up

The problem echoes the country’s catastrophic stumbles early in the pandemic, when a lack of testing allowed the virus to spread widely. Currently, only a tiny fraction of all positive coronavirus tests in the United States are forwarded for further sequencing.

Genetic sequencing is important because the coronavirus, like all viruses, mutates as it moves through people. Many changes are inconsequential and do not alter the transmissibility or severity of illness. But if scientists don’t know what strains are moving through the population, the mutations that matter may pop up undetected. ...

More equipment, staffing and funding are needed to increase sequencing, experts said, and the federal government has yet to create the infrastructure and procedures needed to receive, process and share that data on a national scale. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday that the government is increasing the level of sequencing nationwide...

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