WACO, TX — Considered entrenched in our communities, a recent study conducted among Baylor found the U.K. variant of the coronavirus is more present across our area than anticipated.
This cutting end research out of Baylor University is genomic sequencing, and the campus is tapping into their resources to not only understand the COVID variants on campus, but what the campus variants reflect about McLennan county.
According to campus officials, Baylor University researchers have been working with Baylor College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology along with the Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston on genomic analyses that identified the U.K. coronavirus variant being highly present in the tested community.
That tested community being those on campus.
Between Feb. 22 and April 1, Baylor conducted over 80,000 COVID tests, 616 people (0.0077%) testing positive. Of those positive cases genomic sequencing suggests a minimum of 257 or roughly 42% were the UK variant. A variant thought by medical experts to be more highly transmissible and thus potentially more dangerous.
What that means for the community is that the population on campus largely mirrors what our surrounding community looks like.
Baylor’s researchers calling the U.K. variant entrenched among our communities.
The takeaways Baylor’s researchers are asking our communities to remember is that this is not the time to let our guard down as viruses mutate and are more transmissible and possibly more dangerous.
As well as These variants give us even more reason to get vaccinated and to continue following public health protocols.
