If you've seen the news recently, you know that things are pretty bad over in India. One of the issues over in India is a 'double mutant' variant of COVID-19. Apparently that variant has now made it's way over to Texas.

Dr. James Musser runs the Houston Methodist genome sequencing lab. He says:

We’ve seen four of those now, so it’s clearly in our metropolitan area as well.

This variant has several mutations, which could make this version of COVID-19 even more contagious and it might react differently to the antibodies. Dr. Musser added:

That combination could be contributing – I stress could because it hasn’t been proven yet – could be contributing to the dramatic uptick in cases in India.

Dr. Musser continued to say that one of the best ways to battle new variants of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated, saying:

This is a numbers game. We’ve got to get people vaccinated to a greater extent than they are now. It doesn’t matter if it’s here or in India. You name any country. That’s the key. That’s the road forward here.

While this isn't exactly doom ridden news, it's obviously not a good sign. Yes, the vaccines are continuing to be rolled out and the numbers continue to go down, but we still need to take the proper precautions. It's simple, but I still feel the need to wrap up almost every article like this:

  • Continue to wash your hands thoroughly
  • Keep your distance
  • Wear a mask, according to the CDC's recommendations

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

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