COVID UPDATE 12/20 6:30PM PST

I hope all of you are staying safe, friends. 

There's good news and not-so-good news to report this evening:

First, the good news: COVID-19 vaccines are being developed and deployed rapidly. And the USA has just passed a new coronavirus stimulus package to help individuals in need.

The bad news:  I don't want to sugarcoat this: The virus is out of control. And a new, mutated version of the virus is spreading throughout Europe at an alarming rate. 

According to an article in New York Magazine:

"The variation found in the U.K., known as “VUI – 202012/01” was first identified there in mid-September, according to the World Health Organization. Its mutations have occurred on the genetic material that controls the spike protein, which allows COVID and other similar viruses to penetrate host cells, causing infection.
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According to the U.K.’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, there are 23 changes in the virus’s genetic material, an unusually large number that appears to be helping it spread more quickly. British officials have now estimated that “VUI – 202012/01” is as much as 70 percent more transmissible — a number that is based on modeling, but not yet confirmed in lab experiments. Though there is no evidence to-date that the strain causes a more intense illness or leads to a higher fatality rate, faster transmission does mean more cases, which can lead to a higher hospitalization rate."


Click here to read more. 

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