Frederica Freyberg:

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin met with a UW-Madison research team this week. Scientists at the Aids Vaccine Research Laboratory. The team led by Dr. Tom Friedrich, is working to identify and counterattack the rise of new coronavirus variants. Since March of 2020, the Friedrich Lab has identified or sequenced more than 6,000 viruses from Dane and Milwaukee Counties. We speak now to a primary member of the research team, Lab Scientist Katarina Braun. Thanks so much for being here.

Katarina Braun:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why is it important to sequence the COVID viruses?

Katarina Braun:

Yeah, so what we’re doing when we’re sequencing is sort of breaking that virus apart and taking a look at the genetic fingerprint inside the virus. And by doing that we can sort of identify slight genetic variations that differ from one virus that’s infecting me versus another virus that’s infecting you. It’s important so we can track the virus as it moves through space and time, which allows us to target public health guidance. But it’s also important to identify those particular variants which you’ve seen in the news recently, the variants of concern.

Frederica Freyberg:

Yeah, so when did you start seeing those? If you’ve been sequencing since March of last year, when did you start seeing the variants pop up?

Katarina Braun:

Sure. So it’s a little bit of a tough question to answer, because the virus itself, every virus that we sequence is slightly — is a variance of the last version that we sequenced. So there’s quite a few genetic variations that we notice. So we’ve been noticing them over the past year. The ones that are of particular interest and that we just started seeing pop up in Wisconsin over the past few months are the ones that are — confer increased transmissibility. So make the virus a little bit easier to spread and in some cases may make the vaccine a little bit less effective.

Frederica Freyberg:

So in terms of what you’ve found circulating in Wisconsin, what are the variants of concern that you found and are you able to pinpoint, you know, clusters of them in parts of the state?

Katarina Braun:

Sure. So we’re working really closely with public health in the state of Wisconsin to identify in particular travel-associated cases, into the state that may be associated with these variants of concern. So using that approach, we have been able to identify a few sort of outbreaks associated with travel. But the variant that seems to be popping up most common is the — called B117 and that’s the variant that was first identified in the United Kingdom this past fall. So that’s the one that’s still pretty rare in our state. But it’s definitely on the rise.

Frederica Freyberg:

So is it your expectation that the spread of this U.K. variant in particular will continue to increase here as is the concern of public health officials?

Katarina Braun:

That’s definitely the current concern. It’s still early. There’s only, you know, less than a few hundred cases in the state currently. But our surrounding states have seen a rise and we’re also seeing a rise. It’s also more transmissible. So it’s particularly good at spreading. So we do expect to see increasing number of cases of this particular variant.

Frederica Freyberg:

It also seems like kind of an obvious question but is this why we are now seeing an uptick in overall cases?

Katarina Braun:

It’s hard to say. Like I said, there are relatively few of these particular variants, the B117 in Wisconsin. It could be contributing. I also think public health data points towards people becoming a little bit more relaxed with their mask wearing, the weather is getting warmer and people are wanting to spend time together. And you know, all of those relaxations are allowing the virus to spread.

Frederica Freyberg:

I know that Michigan and Minnesota, for example, have large numbers of these variants. You know, there’s no way to put up a border fence at state lines, but what is the best way to suppress the spread of these variants in Wisconsin in your mind?

Katarina Braun:

Uh-huh. It’s a great question. And I think it’s the question that public health officials are currently tackling. One thing to do is to track and limit travel into and out of the state of Wisconsin. That’s increasingly hard as people want to travel. And the other thing is to just get people vaccinated as quickly as possible. We know the vaccine prevents — does a good job at protecting against this particular variant that’s on the rise in Wisconsin. So as quickly as we can get people vaccinated is definitely one of the primary measures we can do to reduce the spread.

Frederica Freyberg:

Knowing what you know about the spread and the infectiousness of some of these variants, would we or should we, in your mind, revert to safety practices like mandates if a surge kind of takes hold again?

Katarina Braun:

Yeah. I think it’s a hard question. I think that would be in the public’s best interest in terms of protecting the most number of people. In terms of public support, I don’t know if that would be there. I know that scientists and public health officials and physicians all know that the best way to protect our entire community is to get everyone, including people who are disproportionately sort of limited in terms of their access to the vaccine, to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible and also not just in Wisconsin, but as you mentioned, the virus doesn’t care about state or geographic borders. So getting people vaccinated across the United States and across the world is really important here.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We really appreciate your work. Katarina Braun, thank you so much.