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'It has the same L452R mutation as the variant first found in California, B.1.426/B1.429, as well as a mutation called E484Q that is similar to the E484K mutation found in the variants first found in Brazil, P.1, and South Africa, B.1.351

It’s been circulating in the Bay Area of the states and in the UK. The Bay Area in particular has been opening up all indoor activities and easing restrictions now that around %50 of residents are at least partially vaccinated.

L452R never exploded in the bay area like it did in other areas of California due to swift lockdown measures before the holidays, so there is likely a good amount of the population with immunity resting on the vaccines alone. It should be interesting to see if this variant crowds out the others and explodes like it is doing in India at the moment.

That twitter thread also mentions the variant has been associated with reinfections, but I can’t find any data to back that up.'

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