FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – As the coronavirus cases keep climbing, doctors across the country are clear, saying now is not the time to let your guard down with COVID-19.
So, it stood out when over the weekend, Fort Lauderdale’s mayor Dean Trantalis said this:
“One of the things that one of the medical experts told us was that the virus has mutated 18 times already. And each time it has done so, it has weakened itself,” Trantalis said in an interview with radio host Andy Slater. “I’m upset that the national media is looking to sensationalize this virus when we should be following the science.”
Trantalis acknowledged the dangers of the current situation, saying we still need to be careful while we’re out and about. But the theory that the virus has evolved and somehow gotten weaker has been controversial, so Local 10 News spoke with experts from Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University and Memorial Healthcare System.
Dr. Stanley Marks of Memorial says there isn’t any real science that shows a weakened coronavirus.
“The virus, although it has mutated to some degree, unfortunately, there’s no good news,” Marks said. “This particular RNA [ribonucleic acid] virus does not mutate to the same extent that other viruses do.”
Dr. Bindu Mayi, an expert in microbiology at NSU shared a similar response.
“I’m surprised at that statement [from Trantalis], actually,” she said. “Are there specific differences that tell us the virus is weakening? Unfortunately not.
The same sentiment came from FIU.
Late Monday, Local 10 caught up with Mayor Trantalis, who had just finished a meeting with health officials and fellow Broward County mayors. He said he realizes this virus is not so cut and dry.
“That is the information I received last time. So I brought it up again this time,” Trantalis said. “There is no one willing to give a specific indication that the virus was actually weakening, but they’re looking at all factors, and one of the factors that led them to believe that it could be [weakening] was based on the impact that the virus is having on the population as we now see.”
Some studies suggest that the virus is actually stronger than before, highlighting the bottom line that medical experts shared: There is so much that is still unknown about this novel coronavirus, and maintaining the recommended precautions is as important as ever.