LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More cases of coronavirus variants are being reported every day in the U.S. but citizens may be unfamiliar with what that means.

Variants are "mutations," of the original coronavirus. 

“First of all, you have to understand these viruses are going to mutate because that’s what they do. They do spread quickly and easily but so far no change in the severity of the illness or death rate," Dr. Mark Burns said during a Louisville Department of Public Health virtual update on Tuesday.

Dr. Burns specializes in infectious diseases at UofL Health.

Mutations may be inconsequential to how the virus behaves in humans or it can be less severe or more severe. The good news according to Dr. Sarah Moyer, Metro Louisville's Chief Health Strategist is the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should protect against these known mutations. 

“We think that the vaccine is still effective against all the variants. That’s the good news I get that question a lot," Dr. Moyer said. And since the vaccines would still likely offer protection doctors recommend people get the vaccine even if they've already had the virus.

"This prevents getting ill from the new strains," Dr. Moyer adds.

Dr. Paul Schulz of Norton Health agrees. "There is a possibility you may have a variant that made the virus less transmissible, less virulent, more responsive to treatment, you know, those kinds of things. So those genetic variances can go either way," Dr. Schulz said. He also points out the sooner the public gains herd immunity the less consequential variants become. 

“The sooner we end the pandemic the better in terms of the virus has less chance to mutate, right? “You take the chance you have right now to get as many people vaccinated, as quickly as you can, and if you end the pandemic that way you don’t have to even worry about, hopefully, mutations at a future date."