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The United States recently surpassed every other country in terms of total confirmed COVID-19 cases. Understanding the virus is more important than ever for our nation's ability to combat the spread. Virginia scientists are making headlines for a new approach to learning more about where Virginia cases are coming from. Can genetics help fight the spread of COVID-19?

Scientists around the world are working tirelessly to understand as much about the novel coronavirus as possible, like where it's been and where it's going. But the big question is, how do we track the virus without physically tracking every single person it has encountered? To answer that question some scientists are turning to genetics. 

Using genetics, scientists are learning more about how to trace where COVID-19 cases have traveled. Virginia is leading the way in this research, thanks to some of the first public labs in the nation to use genetics to better understand this virus and hopefully find a few ways to combat the spread. So why does the study of a virus's genes matter? 

For starters, the human genome is made of over 3 billion genetic building blocks housed in our DNA and is basically responsible for everything that makes us who we are. The novel coronavirus genome only has about 30,000 building blocks, but like our own, these building blocks can change from time to time. Those small genetic changes are called mutations. When these mutations happen, it leaves a kind of genetic time-stamp on the virus, letting scientists know where and when the last small change took place in the virus's genome. 

In this case, these mutation-time-stamps help scientists see the relationships between particular outbreaks. Kind of like how we can trace all humans back to a single, specific ancestor on our family tree, genetic studies allow us to do the same thing with the novel coronavirus. 

The benefits here would be to gauge success of quarantining and social distancing. As people isolate themselves, strains of the virus die off since they’re not allowed to replicate, change or ultimately keep spreading. Currently, the genetic sequences studied so far show evidence of multiple introductions of the novel coronavirus into Virginia. By looking at the similarity of the virus in Virginia to viral genetic information obtained from Asian and European patients, scientists can see that Virginia’s COVID-19 spread is due to multiple distinct events. 

This genetic detective work is valuable for us to better understand where potential future outbreaks are coming from and to further inform the public on the benefits of social distancing measures. This would also help inform decisions on which areas need to be further contained and quarantined to help slow the spread of this virus. 

Stay tuned as scientists continue to work on new ways to learn more about this pandemic. Till then, stay safe and healthy out there, everyone!

More on Covid-19

We're exploring a lot of topics related to COVID-19 because this virus impacts nearly all aspects of life as we know it. For more on this topic, check out some of these additional blogs. 

How to reduce stress through the pandemic: Some TLC goes a long way when the world seems to be out of your control. Check out a few ways to help your mental and physical health through this pandemic. 

How is COVID-19 impacting the natural world?: As human activity in the world slows down, scientists are starting to see some big changes. 

How do we know social distancing can combat COVID-19?: Social distancing is not a new term and scientists have some very good proof on how it works. 

If You Need Something Other Than Covid-19 News

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The Keto Diet: It seems like just a few weeks ago everyone was talking about the Keto diet. This is our blog to dig into some science behind the diet. 

Beauty Sleep: Since we're all inside more, maybe catching up on sleep is not a bad idea. In fact, good sleep is important for staying healthy, but what about beautiful?