More Contagious Form of the Coronavirus ‘Rapidly Emerging’ As Dominant Strain, Study Says

 By Adam K. Raymond

The dominant strain of the coronavirus that has swept through the United States, killing nearly 70,000 people, is a mutant form of the original virus that emerged in China last year, according to a preprint from researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The researchers call the mutant strain D614G and wrote that it is more contagious than other strains. The paper, which has not been peer-reviewed, says the strain began its rapid spread in February in Europe and followed the path of the original virus to the U.S., where it quickly became the dominant strain. The L.A. Times describes how the mutated virus spread:  Read more >>