Thread by @DrEricDing

18 year old in Georgia🍑 no travel history identified w/ new B117 #SARSCoV2.

Colorado—2x no travel history
California—no travel history
Florida—no travel history
New York—no travel history
Georgia—no travel history

➡️ It’s here. And everywhere. #COVID19
ajc.com/news/georgia-r…

2) the good news is that we don’t think the B117 variant from U.K. 🇬🇧 will escape the vaccine — little if at all. The concern is with the South Africa 🇿🇦 identified B1351 variant. Thread coming soon.

3) My other worry is with the election lines in Georgia today. Hope they aren’t epically long like before. The new B117 variant is 40-80% more infectious according to models.

4) The new B117 UK variant adds an additional +0.36 to +0.68 to the R. This is HUGE!

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1345382707996614657

5) Potentially more infectious in kids.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1345408146853031936

6) As result, here is the chilling UK assessment of the new situation with the more infectious B117 variant.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1346064285978521605

7) San Diego reports 28 additional new cases of the B117 variant today. And guess what else... none of the new coronavirus cases with the UK B117 variant has a travel history.

Shit. #COVID19

8) ⚠️BEAST MODE—the new 🇬🇧B117 is a beast of a #SARSCoV2 variant. The variant adds ~ 0.4-0.7 to the R (Reproductive number). What could keep in check via containment, R<1, now with +0.5 added infectiousness, means the virus will go unchecked—very bad. #COVID19

9) it’s so beastly that it would make holding the virus down and suppressing it 4x longer and harder.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1346621036368949248