BARUCH COLLEGE–A variant of COVID-19 that recently sprang up and made news headlines may not be as serious as the initial claims made it out to be.
About a month ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the BA.2.86 lineage of COVID-19 “may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines.”
There was major concern on the CDC’s part, specifically about the sheer number of mutations that were found on this strain.
The CDC released its initial report on Aug. 23, noting that the variant was detected in Denmark and Israel. On Aug. 30, the organization updated the report, adding that they discovered the variant traveled mostly the same way as other strains of the virus. On Sept. 8, the CDC revealed that research data from multiple labs confirmed that existing antibodies are effective in protecting people from the BA.2.86 variant.
