Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/14/health/coronavirus-variants-evolution.html
Excerpt:
As Americans anxiously watch variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa spread in the United States, scientists are finding a number of new variants that originated here. More concerning, many of these variants seem to be evolving in the same direction — potentially becoming contagious threats of their own.
In a study posted on Sunday, a team of researchers reported seven growing lineages of the novel coronavirus, spotted in states across the country. All of them have evolved a mutation in the same genetic letter.
“There’s clearly something going on with this mutation,” said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveportand a co-author of the new study.
Author(s): Carl Zimmer
Publication Date: 14 February 2021, updated 25 February 2021
Publication Site: NY Times