i was waiting for someone else to comment on this, but the variant they’ve detected in the SF Bay Area, California, is called L452R. this is the first variant I’ve had such an easy time remembering, because it’s name is nearly ‘LASER’ in 1337speek)
there seems to be good news, while there is some immune escape to the response of the moderna vaccine, it is partial, not enough to stop effectiveness significantly enough, & they are working on a booster. this is actually a challenge we can adapt to if # variants stay small
