Time is of the essence with the COVID-19 variants, because they are more contagious, more lethal and they seem to be affecting young people more. That from Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine with the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine, one of four researchers chosen to be a part of a national network studying the variants of concern. The federal government announced $14.3-million to help support this research and the creation of the new COVID Variant Rapid-Response Network.

Dr. Muhajarine says the Saskatchewan representatives in this network are working on the public health, health systems and social policy side. They are liaisons between the researchers who are studying, sequencing and tracing the variants and the decision makers in public health.

Muhajarine says the team will let those doing the clinical research know what the situation is like in Canada and how the virus mutations are spreading, while the scientists gather the clinical data for public health leaders to inform decisions on what actions to take to keep the public safe. He says time is of the essence with these variants, because they are more contagious, more lethal and they seem to be affecting young people more.