What The Spread Of Coronavirus Variants Means For The U.S.

Short Wave

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🗓️ 27 January 2021

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Different versions of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are emerging. Some are spreading quickly around the world, others more slowly — but several have the public health community and researchers worried because they are behaving differently than the older version of the coronavirus. Maddie talks with NPR science correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff about the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK in late 2020 — they discuss how big of a deal it is, how vaccines may be affected, and what needs to happen to slow its spread.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to shortwave from NPR.
0:06.0	Maddie, survive here with Michaeline Dooclef. Welcome, Michaeline. Your first ever time on shortwave.
0:12.0	Thank you. Thank you for having me.
0:14.0	Absolutely. Okay. So you are here to talk to us about coronavirus variants.
0:19.0	Those are different versions of the coronavirus that are spreading quickly throughout the world.
0:24.0	Yes, they are different versions of the virus.
0:27.0	Some are spreading quickly around the world. Some think goodness are spreading a little less quickly.
0:32.0	But the key is that these variants are concerning because they seem to behave differently than the older versions of the coronavirus.
0:39.0	There was a variant that was first detected in South Africa. There's another more recently identified variant that came out of Brazil.
0:47.0	And Monday, the first known case of that variant was announced in the US, found in Minnesota.
0:53.0	But the variant we know most about and are going to focus on mostly today is a variant that first appeared in the UK back in September.
1:02.0	In By-Mid December, the new variant had overtaken other forms of the virus.
1:07.0	The surgeon cases, particularly in London and the southeast, has left NHS emergency staff at battle stations, according to medical leaders, with health workers exhausted and struggling to cope.
1:19.0	The British government is responding by locking down much of the country.
1:23.0	Then, the variant started popping up all over Europe.
1:26.0	Dozens of countries have banned UK travelers from entering.
1:30.0	It's been detected in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, South America, and here in the States.
1:36.0	The highly contagious UK variant now confirmed in at least 19 states.
1:42.0	In the beginning, it wasn't completely clear whether the variant first identified in the UK was more contagious than, let's say, the original coronavirus strain that's been driving the pandemic so far.
1:57.0	Yeah, there are a lot of reasons why a new version of a virus might spread more easily than others.
2:03.0	But in the past month or so, studies started confirming, yes, this version of the coronavirus is more contagious than previous versions.
2:11.0	And that means wherever it appears, communities need to act quickly to stop it.
	...

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