Doctors say people need to be even more vigilant as new coronavirus variants are documented

Detecting new variants of COVID-19

The new variants of the coronavirus could be spreading much quicker than originally thought.

ATLANTA - The number of people reported with a new coronavirus variant in Georgia continues to climb and the state's epidemiologist says the new variants are spreading quickly, many of them undetected.

Just one form of the coronavirus drastically changed the world in a matter of weeks.

It's now taking different forms.

How are the COVID-19 variants different?

Doctors are concerned new variants such as the UK, South African and Brazilian mutations could prolong the pandemic.

"Perhaps antibody treatment will be less effective so they're all concern, but the bottom line is we just don't know," Dr. Cherie Drenzek told FOX5's Alex Whittler.

Viruses change as they spread from person to person.

"Many viruses do that. The flu does every year," Dr. Drenzek said.

That's why she says you shouldn't lower your safety standards--even in the face of covid fatigue.

"Individuals should continue to use the prevention measures that they're well aware of, so the virus doesn't continue to change over time so we can continue to protect Georgians," she said.

How is testing done for COVID-19 variants?

Testing called genomic sequencing scours a coronavirus sample for even the tiniest physical changes, but of the thousands of positive coronavirus tests, only a small portion are examined for a variant.

"That's because each and every genomic sequencing takes a week just to do a single one," she said.

"The goal of the surveillance is not to find every single case of variant but to monitor trends, to have an infrastructure in place to detect circulation of these variants and perhaps more importantly, to detect new ones that emerge, maybe even beyond what we've already heard of," Dr. Drenzek said.

Why is it important to understand COVID-19 variants?

In other words, doctors believe there are variant cases out there that don't get factored into their tally-- and they say that's why you shouldn't let your guard down.

"By reducing the spread of these variants, we actually reduce the chance of them changing. Keep the numbers down they change less frequently. That serves us all well because in the future we may get one that emerges that behaves differently than this one does that may be more deadly or that may evade the vaccine.

The CDC is working to establish more labs that can genomic sequence coronavirus tests. Dr. Drenzek did say it is just not possible to identify every single variant case-- no matter the state or country.

She says your best defense against all coronavirus variants lies in proper use of masks, social distancing and washing your hands.