Mutations do not predict the severity of current variants
New research from UNC Charlotte’s Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two most prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to previous variants.
The authors include: Shirish Yasa (featured here), Sayal Guirales-Medrano, Denis Jacob Machado, Colby T. Ford & Daniel Janies