A guide to Delta-plus, Lambda, and other super infectious coronavirus variants
By Sara Kiley Watson | Published Aug 4, 2021 5:28 PM
If there’s one thing we can count on in life, it’s change, and viruses are no exception. Variants of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus have popped up in different corners of the world and while that might sound a bit scary it’s actually perfectly normal, or even “humdrum” as one Nature study puts it.
While virologists predicted all along that the virus that causes COVID-19 would mutate, what scientists still don’t know exactly is what these variations might mean for how infectious or deadly the virus is. And while we know a handful of COVID-19 variants have circulated throughout the US, pretty much unnoticed by the general public, some variants, particularly the Alpha and Beta variants, which originated in the UK and South Africa, respectively, and now the Delta variant, share some more atypical characteristics that seem to make them more infectious. Currently, Delta is making headlines due to its extra-transmissibility and recent upticks in cases across the US.
The variant of most recent concern is the Delta variant, a spin-off of the B.1.617 lineage which also includes the Kappa variant, which was first identified in India in October 2020, and has since spread to Britain, the US, and Israel. Delta is currently the most common variant in the US and has been shown to be incredibly transmissible—even more so than the common cold. Experts are still determining whether or not Delta makes people sicker than other variants, but almost all hospitalizations and deaths due to the variant are in unvaccinated populations.
