Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to assess whether the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Epsilon variant (B.1.429/427) is more virulent, leading to more hospitalization and more severe disease requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission.
Methods: SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance was performed on respiratory samples from 231 unique patients, collected at a single large health system in Southern California between November 2020 and March 2021 during the winter surge.
Results: The frequencies of the Epsilon variant among outpatients, hospitalized patients, and ICU patients were indifferent.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that the Epsilon variant is not associated with increased hospitalization and ICU admission.
Keywords: B.1.427; B.1.429; COVID-19; California; Epsilon variant; Genomic surveillance; Hospitalization; ICU; SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Hospitalization, Genomic surveillance, SARS-CoV-2., ICU, B.1.427, B.1.429, California, Epsilon variant, 【초록키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, intensive care, Genomic surveillance, variant, intensive care unit, hospitalized patients, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, Surveillance, Epsilon, ICU admission, ICU Patients, outpatients, health system, genomic, Respiratory samples, Admission, patients, Frequency, severe disease, acute respiratory syndrome, frequencies, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, virulent, ICU patient, respiratory sample, collected, was performed, unique, 【제목키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Epsilon, Winter, investigation, status, System,