nmbr1stckpckr, You posted an interesting articl
Post# of 148185
You posted an interesting article from The Guardian which I noticed right before I started to post this one from the UK about new variant.
Link and excerpts follow.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/no-evidence-change...us-variant
No evidence of change in symptoms from new coronavirus variant
First identified in September 2020 in the South East of England, the B.1.1.7 variant has spread rapidly through the UK and elsewhere.
The research study confirms that the new variant is more transmissible, but it does not appear to cause more reinfections or a greater proportion of hospitalisations. Reassuringly, the data from also showed that B.1.1.7 has responded to national lockdown measures, with cases falling significantly even in regions with very high prevalence.
After adjusting the data to account for age and sex, as well as local temperature and humidity, analysis showed that there were no significant differences in the type, number or duration of symptoms between areas with a high prevalence of B.1.1.7 compared with those with a lower prevalence and that this did not change as the new variant spread. There was also no difference in the proportion of reported hospitalisations and reinfections.
The researchers identified 249 likely cases of reinfection during the study period, representing a reinfection rate of 0.7% which is comparable with previous studies of earlier virus variants. This is a positive sign that the immunity built through vaccination against the older variants could also be protective against B.1.1.7.
Finally, the researchers confirmed that the new variant is more easily transmitted than existing virus versions, increasing the R value (a measure of transmissibility) by around a third (35%).