Did you find this answer helpful? Subscribe to keep up with all things Lifelong Learning.
The news outlets are reporting a summer surge in COVID cases. Is this a new variant or the same one that I may be protected from by the vaccine? Is COVID still mutating?
Both influenza and coronaviruses will continue to have genomic changes as they pass from human-to-human (through populations and over time). This is why scientists continue to track the viruses and make recommendations on what should be represented in the newest vaccines annually. However, influenza is more strictly a winter-time virus (it largely disappears from the northern hemisphere in our summer-time, meanwhile influenza surges in the southern hemisphere where it is their winter-time). Whereas, the SARS-CoV-2 virus appears to be a virus of all-seasons (most efficient in the winter-time, but continuing to be transmitted and causing disease throughout the summer). Part of the current summer surge can be explained by international travel and crowding indoors (e.g., seeking air-conditioned indoor spaces away from the heat and humidity).
The CDC makes a public 鈥渢racker鈥� that helps to visualize the variants over time. See graphic below and webpage link.
