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Pockets are the unvaccinated are where we have millions of human bioreactors to stir the covid virus, and enable more variants to the produced over time.
While flu seems pervasive, the infectiousness of flu is typically around 1.2~1.4. This means on average, it takes 5 cases to infect 6 or 7 others.
In contrast, even the earlier Covid variants have R0 of 2.4~2.8. This infectiousness was double that of flu.
So it could faster and cover more people quickly. So we have 10s and 100s of millions of infected people, each a huge bioreactor reproducing the virus and making copying mistakes that are known as mutations.
Now we have the Delta variant with infectiousness of 5-8! This is doubled to more than tripled the old variant, and 4~7 times the infectiousness of flu!
Flu viruses are small, and mutates fast without any anchor to prevent their mutations.
The covid virus is among the biggest of the viruses - almost as big as some of the smallest bacteria.
It has a self correction mechanism that prevents some copying mistakes. And so it preserves its basic structure with an envelop membrane and spikes sticking out.
We know that the 3 headed “flower” on top of the spike is the critical entry point into our cells.
The top most parts can mutate, while the lower part of the head joining to the stem of the spike is a highly conserved area - where it is hard to have copying mistakes.
The estimate was that the mutation rate would be 1-2 a month.
Nonetheless with the huge numbers of cases blazing out of control in many parts of the world, those one or two a month rate adds up, and we are seeing lots more
Indeed, in some immunocompromised patients, doctors are seeing fast and rapid multiple mutations all at once in one patient.
Some of these observed patients are in isolation in hospitals. So their mutations did not escape into the open.
But others did from patients elsewhere who are not isolated.
So pockets of the unvaccinated allow the virus to mutate more freely and faster.
Vaccinated folks can slow down the spread, and thus reduce the chances of bad mutations showing up.
Let’s vaccinate where we can and not wait.
While flu seems pervasive, the infectiousness of flu is typically around 1.2~1.4. This means on average, it takes 5 cases to infect 6 or 7 others.
In contrast, even the earlier Covid variants have R0 of 2.4~2.8. This infectiousness was double that of flu.
So it could faster and cover more people quickly. So we have 10s and 100s of millions of infected people, each a huge bioreactor reproducing the virus and making copying mistakes that are known as mutations.
Now we have the Delta variant with infectiousness of 5-8! This is doubled to more than tripled the old variant, and 4~7 times the infectiousness of flu!
Flu viruses are small, and mutates fast without any anchor to prevent their mutations.
The covid virus is among the biggest of the viruses - almost as big as some of the smallest bacteria.
It has a self correction mechanism that prevents some copying mistakes. And so it preserves its basic structure with an envelop membrane and spikes sticking out.
We know that the 3 headed “flower” on top of the spike is the critical entry point into our cells.
The top most parts can mutate, while the lower part of the head joining to the stem of the spike is a highly conserved area - where it is hard to have copying mistakes.
The estimate was that the mutation rate would be 1-2 a month.
Nonetheless with the huge numbers of cases blazing out of control in many parts of the world, those one or two a month rate adds up, and we are seeing lots more
Indeed, in some immunocompromised patients, doctors are seeing fast and rapid multiple mutations all at once in one patient.
Some of these observed patients are in isolation in hospitals. So their mutations did not escape into the open.
But others did from patients elsewhere who are not isolated.
So pockets of the unvaccinated allow the virus to mutate more freely and faster.
Vaccinated folks can slow down the spread, and thus reduce the chances of bad mutations showing up.
Let’s vaccinate where we can and not wait.
