Mutation! Are We Now Dealing With A More Contagious Covid-19 Strain?

Well, it seems we are closer to solving the mystery of why some regions of the world exhibit higher covid-19 mortality infection and mortality rates than others. New research is revealing that covid-19 mutated early on in the pandemic to create a more transmissive strain: the G clade, which may also be associated with a higher viral load. The G clade was dominant in Italy, which suggests that's why the virus hit that country so much harder than many others. In the US, New York appears to have suffered from a high percentage of G clade cases. That's likely why the infection rate has been much higher there than in other states. In addition to the news about the new strain, we're also now seeing evidence that the impact of covid-19 can linger for much longer than previously appreciated. There are reports of patients still struggling with symptoms 50 or more days after onset. To re-iterate our oft-repeated advice: You do NOT want to get this virus if you can avoid it.

Christopher Martenson is a former American biochemical scientist. Currently he is a writer and trend forecaster interested in macro trends regarding the economy, energy composition and environment. He is the founder of PeakProsperity.com. As one of the early econobloggers who forecasted the housing market collapse and stock market correction years in advance, Chris rose to prominence with the launch of his seminal video seminar which later became a book called The Crash Course. Chris' latest book (co-authored with Adam Taggart) is called Prosper!: How to Prepare for the Future and Create a World Worth Inheriting.