1. Abstract: "SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2, a novel lineage of the coronavirus causing COVID-19, contains multiple mutations within two immunodominant domains of the spi

1. Abstract: "SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2, a novel lineage of the coronavirus causing COVID-19, contains multiple mutations within two immunodominant domains of the spike protein. Here we show that this lineage exhibits complete escape from three classes of therapeutically relevant monoclonal antibodies. Furthermore 501Y.V2 shows substantial or complete escape from neutralizing antibodies in COVID-19 convalescent plasma. These data highlight the prospect of reinfection with antigenically distinct variants and may foreshadow reduced efficacy of current spike-based vaccines." 2. See also: * "New coronavirus variants could cause more re-infections, require vaccine updates": https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/new-coronavirus-variants-could-cause-more-reinfections-require-updated-vaccines https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/new-coronavirus-vari... * "Can we stop a super coronavirus?": https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/can-germany-stop-the-new-supervirus-a-e9ffc207-0015-4330-8361-b306f6053e15 https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/can-germany-stop-... * Tweets by an epidemiologist at Harvard about the new variants found in Manaus, Brazil: https://twitter.com/BillHanage/status/1349943613514526723 https://twitter.com/BillHanage/status/1349943613514526723 3. A key takeaway, for me: Evolutionary paths for covid-19 that would normally be very unlikely become more and more likely as more people get infected with the virus, providing a large-scale, global playground for experimentation via random mutation. Random evolutionary events that would normally be rare become more and more likely as the numbers grow large enough.