Delta, Delta Plus & Lambda: Here are the differences between the COVID-19 variants

It feels like there’s a new variant of COVID-19 every day. It’s not fun, but it’s not all bad news either; no matter in which variant, there are working vaccines in circulation. And while there are more and more breakthrough COVID-19 cases, they remain the most efficient way to protect yourself from the virus.

As of this writing, the Delta Plus variant is the one that freaked out the internet the most about. Then the lambda variant popped up and people freaked out about it too. While we’ve been busy discussing the Delta variant for the past few weeks, COVID-19 will COVID-19 and will evolve until the Greek alphabet runs out of letters. What is the difference between these variants? When will they stop showing up?

There are important differences between each variant that, while interesting on a molecular level, are difficult to spot in real life. When it comes to when these variants stop appearing, they probably won’t. As long as vaccination rates are low worldwide, new variants can be expected. The virus will mutate and get stronger as long as it has a warm body to infect and people continue to stay unvaccinated, travel and contaminate other people. Here is a simple breakdown of these three variants:

delta

Photo by Willie B. Thomas / Getty Images

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Delta is rapidly becoming the dominant COVID-19 strain around the world. If you get COVID-19 in the US, it is very likely that it is the Delta variant. It’s a dangerous variant because it’s more contagious than the original version of COVID-19. For now, people should be vaccinated and mask themselves when entering crowded indoor spaces or hanging out with unvaccinated people.

Delta plus

Loud people are more likely to spread the coronavirusPhoto by Edmond Dantès via Pexels

The Delta plus variant is really the Delta variant with a small mutation. It’s a small change, but a bad one, as it makes it harder for our immune systems to detect the virus and shut it down. Even so, don’t freak out as mutations are likely to show up, but it’s not known whether or not they will stay around.

Dr. Daniel Rhoads told USA Today why you shouldn’t worry, but why advocating for vaccines is important. “The virus mutates more or less randomly, and most of the mutations are harmful to the virus and actually make it less effective,” he said. “But the more you give the virus the chance to roll the dice, the more opportunities it has to get it right.”

Lambda

This side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine is more common than expectedPhoto from CDC via Unsplash

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The Lambda variant is not as dangerous as the Delta variant, at least for the time being, but has picked up speed in the last few days. Even so, you shouldn’t worry too much. The worrying evidence that has emerged is that the Chinese vaccine called Sinovac is not as effective on this version of the virus. On the other hand, the Sinovac vaccine has been shown to be less effective on a wide variety of COVID-19 strains compared to the other vaccinations available.

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