Is News of U.S. Virus Variants Too Much, Too Soon?

While the U.S. has focused on SARS-CoV-2 variants arriving from across the globe, homegrown strains reported to be cropping up in California and New York show again how the virus is adapting in order to survive. Reports of U.S.-generated mutations in states and cities hard-hit by the virus have spurred a scientific slugfest. Do they represent a significant threat? Are they worse than other variants? And should they have been reported at all -- gaining widespread media attention and bold headlines -- before being published in a scientific journal and vetted by peer review?

A study of the New York variant was posted by California Institute of Technology researchers on bioRxiv, an online site based at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York that publishes so-called pre-print versions of studies before they’re peer reviewed. They said the variant, known as B.1.526, appeared in samples obtained from various New York City neighborhoods starting in November. It includes two key mutations, they reported. One mutation, like the South Africa and Brazil variants, allows the virus to evade one class of antibodies in the immune response. Another affects how tightly the virus binds to cells. Anthony West, a senior research specialist at CalTech and a lead author, raised the possibility that some portion of vaccine-induced immune response against the coronavirus “might be less effective because of the mutations” in the New York variant.