Creationist mode:
There is one thing that Creationism's divine malevolence definitely is not, and that's a quitter.
Having designed one of the nastiest viruses to hit humanity for over a century, it is never going to let a little thing like human medical science stand in the way of killing millions of people, making tens of millions more sick and ruining national economies and private business all over the world, without a fight. Humans might think they are on the verge of defeating it with their vaccines, and natural antibodies but the intelligent [sic] designer still has a few tricks up its sleeve. They are not getting away with that.
So, it's busy looking for a variant that is not only more contagious than its first model, but can get around the antibodies the man-made vaccines produce, as well as the antibodies human immune systems produce naturally when infected. This is, of course, the same immune system that creationists believe their divine malevolence designed to protect us from the viruses and bacteria it designs to harm us, but that's by the by.
We are already well past δ (delta) in the naming of these variant, using the Greek alphabet. In fact, we are at μ (mu), having already gone through ε (epsilon), ζ (zeta), ν (nu), ι (iota), κ (kappa), θ (theta), λ (lambda) and κ (kappa). μ is now one of the variants under investigations.
At this rate, we'll run out of Greek letters within a couple of years.
But the Intelligent designer is not just trying out major new variants but is tinkering with earlier variants with which it has and is still having major successes, such as the δ variant, which is proving to be much more contagious that the original version. If this piece of research is anything to go by, it is having some considerable success with a tweak of δ known as δ+ (delta plus).
Creationist mode:
Back in the real world where facts matter now.
A team of researchers at the University of Missouri, led by Professor Kamlendra Singh, Using bioinformatics tools and programming, have:
Whether it is natural antibodies produced from previously having COVID-19 or the antibodies produced from the vaccine, we are showing structurally how dangerous and clever the virus is by being able to mutate in a way that the antibodies don’t seem to recognize and defend against these new variants. These findings help explain why there have been so many people testing positive for the Delta variants despite being vaccinated or having previously been infected with COVID-19.
Austin N. Spratt, co-lead author
Undergraduate student
Bond Life Sciences Center
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
…identified five specific mutations that are far more prevalent in Delta Plus infections compared to Delta infections, including one mutation, K417N, that is present in all Delta Plus infections but not present in nearly any Delta infections. The findings provide important clues to researchers about the structural changes to the virus recently and highlight the need to expand the toolbox in the fight against COVID-19.Professor Singh developed a cough and fever on a flight from India to USA, despite being fully vaccinated and testing negative for COVID-19 before departure. He subsequently tested positive. He was one of many fully-vaccinated people to have been infected with the δ variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The team's findings are published in the Journal of Autoimmunity, regrettably behind a paywall. However, it can be read in full, here. In the abstract the authors highlight the following findings:
HighlightsDespite multiple attempts to explain why their adored malevolence would inflict such an awful disea on humanity, almost all of which involve the favourite hobby-horses of parochial American evangelical Christians, such as abortions, same-sex marriage, not giving the churches enough money, or voting against Donald Trump, no Creationist has yet found the courage or integrity to explain why their explanation for the development of these ever-more nasty variant - intelligent [sic] design, which makes their beloved invisible friend look like a misanthropic, pestilential monster who hates its creation - is preferable to the scientific explanation of evolution by natural selection.
- Delta Plus, which emerged from the Delta, has a distinct mutation profile.
- A more significant number of high-prevalence mutations in Delta Plus than in Delta.
- Delta Plus has new mutations in ORF1a (A1146T, P1604L, A3209V, V3718S, and T3750I).
- Mutations alter the local structure to evade antibody binding.
If it were real, I dread to think what such a creature would think of its followers who insist on making it look so malevolent. Maybe this explains why they are being differentially selected for infection with their super-spreader events in churches and refusal to get vaccinated. But even that has a better explanation in terms of science, not involving magic or intent, although the stupidity is hard to explain.
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