{"id":56053,"date":"2021-03-14T12:45:16","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T16:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=56053"},"modified":"2021-03-14T12:45:16","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T16:45:16","slug":"these-covid-variants-are-being-bioengineered-with-purposeful-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=56053","title":{"rendered":"These Covid Variants Are Being Bioengineered with Purposeful Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Explained: The 3 Major COVID-19 Variants<\/strong><\/h1>\n

As billions of people gear up for\u00a0widespread vaccination<\/a>\u00a0against COVID-19, another issue has reared its head. Three major COVID-19 variants have emerged across the globe\u2014and preliminary research suggests these variants may be cause for concern.<\/p>\n

But,\u00a0as Visual Capitalist’s Carmen Ang explains below<\/a>,\u00a0what makes them different from the original strain?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following visualizations answer some key questions, including when these variants were first discovered, how far they\u2019ve spread worldwide, and most importantly, their potential impact on the population.<\/p>\n

Some Context: What is a Variant?<\/h2>\n

Before diving in, it\u2019s important to understand why viruses mutate in the first place.<\/p>\n

To infect someone, a virus takes over a host cell and uses it to replicate itself. But nature isn\u2019t perfect, and sometimes, mistakes are made during the replication process\u2014those mistakes are called\u00a0mutations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A virus with one or more mutations is referred to as a\u00a0variant<\/strong>. Most of the time, variants do not affect a virus\u2019s physical structure, and in those instances, they eventually disappear. However, there are certain cases when a mutation impacts part of a virus\u2019s genetic makeup that does change its behavior.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC<\/a>) a change in behavior can alter:<\/p>\n