Over the last few days, major news outlets, including Fox, have been running stories about a new variant or strain of SARS-COV-2, or more popularly named coronavirus and COVID-19. The Fox story runs with the headline, "Coronavirus mutation emerges that may bypass mask-wearing, hand-washing protections." Shocking news! Everything we may have been doing to protect ourselves may no longer protect us. Oh no! The only thing that may work could be total isolation.
But wait, let's examine the story further. The new mutation has been dubbed D614G. Where have I heard that before? Hmmm, let me see. Oh, I remember. I wrote an article a couple of months ago about D614G. A couple of months ago? Yes, as it turns out, it was being touted as a new, more virulent strain of the virus even back then. The only problem was, as my research found, it was not a new strain. In fact, it is an old variant/strain. The same variant/strain that has infected over 90% of the population from the beginning. An article posted on medicalxpress.com clearly explains whether this is a new mutation or the variant we have been dealing with from the beginning of the crisis. Here is an excerpt.
The work involved analyzing the genomes of the virus found in 6,000 infected people from around the globe. They focused most specifically on the virus genes that are responsible for producing the "spike protein," which is the mechanism the virus uses to attach to human cells. In so doing, they found 14 mutations, but one they named D614G (also known as G614) stood out because it was found in almost all samples outside of China. It was also particularly notable because it appeared to replace a prior mutation called D614. They also noted that in the original outbreak in China, there were only D614 mutations. It was only after the virus began appearing in Europe that the G614 mutation emerged. They suggest that the fact that the G614 virus took over from the prior mutation could mean it is more easily spread. Notably, after the mutation appeared in Europe, the G614 mutation began appearing in samples from other sites around the world, suggesting that this new strain is behind the global pandemic.
The full article may be found here.
To summarize, there is no new variant/strain; we have been dealing with this variant/strain from the start. If, as the Fox News headline suggests, it is more resistant to face masks and hand washing, I suggest we dispense with the nonsense of all the lockdowns and get our country back to normal. Perhaps then we can focus on investigating who has been behind this massive hoax perpetrated on the American People and the world. Let's End Americas Lockdown.