What’s Going On With All These Coronavirus Variants? An Illustrated Guide

OK. So what in the heck is going on with all these variants? Why is everyone so worried? And how do they work?

To answer these questions, let’s go back in time to January 2020, when we were all blissfully going about our lives, eating in restaurants, cramming into elevators at work and dancing at house parties on the weekends.

Back then, the coronavirus looked a bit like this (well, not really, but if it was made of Legos, it would look like this).

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Meredith Miotke for NPR

Enlarge this image

Meredith Miotke for NPR

Meredith Miotke for NPR

As scientists say, these mutations help the virus «evade the immune system. So a person who was infected with the older version of the virus last year may not be protected as well against these new variants. And that person may be more likely to be reinfected.

Now, antibodies are a diverse crew. They come in a lot of different shapes that can bind to a lot of different parts of the virus. Some antibodies don’t bind right at the end of the spike but along the edges, along the white sticks. Some antibodies don’t even bind on the spike at all, but rather, on another surface of the virus. All of these other antibodies can help take down the virus and reduce infections. So even though some antibodies become less useful, hopefully, others will take up the slack and still get the job done — or at least, stall the infection long enough so the body can make new antibodies that fit perfectly on the mutated spike.