Name: Mutated coronavirus spreads faster but more susceptible to potential vaccine, UNC expert says
Uploaded: 2020-11-17T20:20:02-0500
Duration: 528015
Description: Ralph Baric, an infectious disease expert at UNC-Chapel Hill, says the mutated version of coronavirus that has spread across much of the U.S. is more prolific than the original strain found in China, but it looks to be more susceptible to the potential vaccines being developed.

We’re also following the flight delays and tomorrow’s impacts after a plane crash at RDU. Plus, Only on WRAL, why a high school student is not allowed to participate in one of the most important events of his life.. and how he and his family are fighting for him to graduate. Watch WRAL-TV at 11 p.m., and search for these and other stories on WRAL.com.

On WRAL at 11: Cooler weather tomorrow morning but we’re about to warm up. When and where temperatures top 90 degrees

Have you noticed an unusual smell or flavor in your tap water over the past few days?

What's wrong with Raleigh tap water? Algae bloom at Falls Lake behind the smell, color

'Earthy and musty:' Here's why your tap water may taste strange this weekend in Raleigh

Homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods, so purchasing separate flood insurance is crucial in North Carolina, especially in high-risk areas.

Homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods: How to protect your home in North Carolina

Princeville residents weigh options after Hurricane Matthew

Ralph Baric, an infectious disease expert at UNC-Chapel Hill, says the mutated version of coronavirus that has spread across much of the U.S. is more prolific than the original strain found in China, but it looks to be more susceptible to the potential vaccines being developed.

WITH US UNTIL THEN. >> THERE IS A LOT TO TALK ABOUT AND DISSECT WITH ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING CORONAVIRUS RESEARCHERS RIGHT HERE IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA. THE INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT WITH UNC'S SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IS JOINING US LIVE,  AND DOCTOR, GOOD TO SEE YOU, SIR, AND WE WILL GET BACK TO THE VACCINE IN JUST A MOMENT BUT FIRST, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE STRATEGY OF THE STATES. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE COUNTY ALERT SYSTEM. YOU'VE SEEN IT SO FAR. DO YOU THINK IT'S THE RIGHT APPROACH FOR THE -- FOR WHERE WE ARE NUMBERS WISE? >> I THINK SO. WE ARE IN A NATIONAL SURGE OF INFECTIONS. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE COMMON CONTEMPORARY WITH THE COVID-19 IN TERMS OF TRANSMISSIBILITY BETWEEN NOVEMBER AND MARCH. AND IN THAT WINDOW, IT WILL INCREASE FOUR TO SIX TIMES THE LEVELS OF SEPTEMBER AND THE SUMMER MONTHS. SO THIS IS THE TIME THAT WE NEED TO BE PREPARED. HAVING THE EARLY ALERT SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY COUNTIES AT RISK IS ESSENTIAL,  AND I LIKE THAT THIS IS HEAVILY NETWORKED SO THE POPULATION IN NORTH CAROLINA CAN KEEP TRACK OF THIS INFORMATION ON A DAILY BASIS. >> Reporter: DR. BARIC, EARLIER TODAY, MY COLLEAGUE DEBRA MORGAN AND I WERE TALKING ABOUT IN THE NEWSCAST, PRESENTING A SENSE OF URGENCY WITHOUT CREATING A PANIC. WE KEEP HEARING THE TERM IT'S GOING TO BE A DARK WINTER. HOW DARK DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO BE? >> WE HAVE INCREASED ABOUT 40,000 CASES PER DAY IN THE UNITED STATES TO 160,000 TO 180,000 CASES PER DAY. THAT IS VERY TROUBLING,  AND WE ARE NOT IN THE PEAK TIME OF THE HUMAN CORONAVIRUS IN GENERAL, AND WE WILL LOOK AT 200,000 CASES A DAY,  AND THEY WILL END UP IN HOSPITALS,  AND ALREADY, THE HOSPITALS ARE BECOMING AT RISK FOR HAVING SUFFICIENT FACILITIES AND BEDS AND SUPPORT STAFF TO TAKE CARE OF THE LAB AND GET YOUR >>> WE'RE BACK LIVE WITH INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST FROM UNC, DR. RALPH BARIC. DOCTOR, THE HEADLINES, PFIZER AND MODERNA, BOTH WITH AN EFFECTIVE RATE ABOVE 90%. WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE THAT RATE SO HIGH? >> YES. THAT IS FANTASTIC NEWS WITH THE SMALL ANIMAL MODEL WORK WE DID WITH THE MODERNA VACCINE WHERE WE HAD VERY HIGH RATES AND IT WAS PLEASING TO SEE IT WORKED SO WELL IN HUMANS. GREAT NEWS FOR HUMANITY. >> Reporter: IT'S GREAT NEWS BUT WE ARE STILL MONTHS AWAY FROM, SAY YOU AND I GETTING TO TAKE IT. DO YOU THINK IT WILL HAVE AN EMOTIONAL IMPACT ON PEOPLE AND THEY MAY LET THEIR GUARD DOWN? >> JUST TO LET YOU KNOW I VOLUNTEERED FOR THE MODERNA VACCINE TRIAL, AND I HOPEFULLY RECEIVED THE VACCINE BUT IN GENERAL IT WON'T BE AVAILABLE UNTIL THE MAJORITY OF THE PUBLIC UNTIL EARLY SPRING, APRIL, MOST LIKELY. SO IN ESSENCE, WE HAVE FOUR TO FIVE MONTHS OF MAINTAINING PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE,  AND JUST TO KEEP IT IN PERSPECTIVE IN FIVE MONTHS, THERE COULD BE 250,000 MORE AMERICAN DEATHS. SO WEARING MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING IS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY TO GET TO THE WINDOW OF THE VACCINE AND WE CAN PUT THE WHOLE PANDEMIC BEHIND US. >> Reporter: DR. BARIC, THE FACT YOU VOLUNTEERED FOR THIS AND YOU TOOK THE VACCINE SPEAKS VOLUMES. WE LOOK AT PUBLIC OPINION POLLS AND THE NUMBERS THAT ARE SAYING I AM NOT SURE ABOUT A VACCINE. I AM NOT ONE OF THEM BUT THEY ARE OUT THERE. >> I READ THE SAME INFORMATION AND THAT'S UNFORTUNATE,  AND IN THIS CASE, BOTH MODERNA AND PFIZER VACCINES HAD NO ADVERSE REACTIONS. AT THE MOST, THERE WAS MILD SWELLING ON YOUR ARM, AND MAYBE A TRANSIENT CHILL OR A FEVER AND A MUSCLE ACHE. AND THIS IS GONE QUICKLY,  AND PROBABLY MOST IMPORTANTLY WITH THE MODERNA VACCINE, THERE WERE 11 COVID-19 INFECTIONS IN THE TRIAL NONE OF WHICH WERE IN THE VACCINE. THAT MEANS THIS VACCINE IS PROBABLY PROTECTING US AGAINST SEVERE INFECTIONS,  AND THE FEW CASES THAT DID OCCUR WERE VERY MILD,  AND THAT'S VERY, VERY ENCOURAGING DATA. AND IF IT HOLDS UP, WE'RE IN GOOD SHAPE. >> Reporter: ALL RIGHT. WE HAVE LESS THAN A MINUTE, DR. BARIC,  AND YOUR LAB IS VERY MUCH INVOLVED WITH REMDESIVIR, BUT THAT'S NOT THE ONLY THING. WHAT'S COME OUT OF YOUR LAB? >> WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A NEW VARIANCE THAT HAS EMERGED IN THE HUMAN POPULATION. THE ORIGINAL VIRUS CAME OUT OF WUHAN, CHINA AND DEVELOPED A MUTATION IN ITALY IN LATE FEBRUARY, EARLY MARCH 2020, AND THAT MUTATION WAS A SPIKE IN THE PROTEIN AND NOW THAT IS THE DOMINANT STRAIN WORLD WIDE, AND MOST OF THE EAST COAST THIS THAT STRAIN THAT EMERGED IN SOUTHERN EUROPE AND WHAT WE DID IS STUDY THAT ON THE MUTATION AND TRANSMISSIBILITY. WE SHOWED THAT THE MUTATION ALLOWS THE VIRUS TO GO HIGHER AND TIGHTER IN YOUR NOSE WHERE IT'S TO BE TRANSMITTED,  AND WE SHOWED IT CAN OUTCOME PETE THE ORIGINAL WUHAN STRAIN IN HEAD TO HEAD COMPARISONS AND DERIVE FROM YOUR NOSE AND YOU PUT THEM IN THE SAME CULTURE STATEMENT, THIS NEW VARIANCE OUT DOES THE OLD VARIANCE AND USING HAMSTERS AS MODELS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON, WE SHOWED THAT THE NEW VARIANCE WAS MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY TRANSMITTED BY AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION. THIS IS MORE TRANSMISSIBLE BUT IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S MORE VULNERABLE TO THE CURRENT VACCINES THAN WERE MADE THAN THE ANCESTRAL STRAIN. SO THAT'S GOOD NEWS. >> Reporter: DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WILL SEE COVID 21? >> SO, IT'S HARD TO MAKE A DETERMINATION ON THE LENGTH. IT DEPENDS ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC,  AND FOR PEOPLE AND THEIR WILLINGNESS TO TAKE THE VACCINE. IF WE HAVE OVER A 70 PERCENT SUCCESS RATE, WE WILL HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF THE PANDEMIC OUTBREAKS, AND THE DURATION WILL BE DEPENDENT ON HOW QUICKLY WE CAN GET BACK TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD, EUROPE, THE UNITED STATES, SOUTHEAST ASIA, JAPAN. WEALTHY NATIONING WILL GET IT IMMEDIATELY BUT OTHER NATIONS, IT WILL TAKE LONGER TO GET THEM. SO IT WILL CONTINUE INTO 2021. BUT IT SHOULD BE, AGAIN, IF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TAKES IT, I THINK WE'LL BE MOVING BEYOND THE PANDEMIC BY THE END OF THE SUMMER, BEGINNING OF FALL. >> Reporter: DR. RALPH BARIC, YOU TEACH US EVERY TIME YOU ARE

David Crabtree

Matthew Burns

Mutated coronavirus spreads faster but more susceptible to potential vaccine, UNC expert says

Ralph Baric

WRAL-TV News Broadcasts: Watch each newscast live or watch the most recent newscast on demand.

WRAL Late News 

Get the latest WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast whenever you need it, including the DUALDoppler5000 and the 7-Day Forecast.

Good morning. I'm meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. We have a gorgeous day and our forecast, our temperatures are pleasantly cool this morning, skies are clear and our wind is mostly calm. Now. There may be some gusts that happened later on this afternoon. We could be gusting 15 to almost 20 MPH in the middle of the day and then we'll see the wind starting to die down. It's not going to be anything that causes you any real issues, but just a touch on the breezy side. Midday. Our temperatures heading out the door this morning are chilly anywhere from mid forties to mid f depending on where you are. And it's going to be a lovely day today. Lunch outside. Absolutely. If I could put some exclamation points on this, I would almost 70 at lunchtime humidity, low, lots of sunshine, take advantage of this absolute gorgeous afternoon for lunch outside or whatever it is that you can do our highs mid afternoon, 74 in Raleigh, 72 in Durham and 78 in Fayetteville. So such a pretty day. Uh, lots of things to uh to do. It's a very busy time time of year lots of festivals and things. And I imagine with game three, the hurricanes versus the Islanders, there will be a lot of people out at watch parties, temperatures before the game will be dropping to around 60 then on into the upper fifties, by the time the game is over, cool, beautiful sunny conditions and low humidity. Look at that low humidity. It's in the fifties all the way up through Saturday and Sunday. But then on Monday it starts to climb up to 60 it gets into the sixties. That's when you start to notice it. You know, some days you're like, it feels humid. So we're going to start to feel it. It's not going to be overwhelming, you know, not looking at steamy or tropical conditions, but it will start to creep up as we get into the weekend. Look at the temperature change that we're going to see. You see the blue color contours, that's where temperatures are either below normal or close to normal. And then once we get into Sunday and much of next week, we're going to see temperatures climbing above normal. So we're talking about some eighties. Our normal highs are in the mid seventies and would be pretty close to that through Saturday. Then we start to climb into the eighties and we have the potential on Tuesday to be close to a record. The uh high temperature 88 the record nine back in 1906. So getting close to record territory. By the, uh, beginning of next week, it stays mainly dry. The only real chance of any rain we have is a tiny chance on Tuesday. Just a 20% chance. So we have a very dry period in our seven day forecast.

WRAL WeatherCenter Forecast

Nightly N.C. Education Lottery drawings during the 11 p.m. News.

Good evening. I'm Gayle Hurd. Welcome to tonight's drawings for Wednesday, April 24th, 2024. Well, let's get started tonight with our Carolina pick three. Our first winning number is a seven. Our second number is six and the third number tonight is a nine and our pick three. Fireball number is six. Joining me for tonight's show is our auditor from mcconnell and Jones L LP. Now let's move to the Carolina pick four. Good luck. Everyone who's that first winning pick four number, it's zero. Our second number is a nine. Third number tonight is three and our fourth number is one in our pick for fireball number. There it is. It's three. Again, we're turning now to the Carolina cash five and no one was the top prize tonight. Tomorrow's top prize is estimated at $620,000. Good luck. Everyone here's their first win in cash five number. It's a 29. Our second number, it's 37 3rd number tonight. It's 34. Our fourth number is lucky 13 and the final number in our cash five this evening is 12. The North Carolina Education lottery has contributed over $10 billion to education. Get your winning numbers right here every night on your exclusive station for the North Carolina Education lottery. Thanks for playing. Have a great night.

Evening Pick 3 Pick 4 and Cash 5

Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday Powerball drawings, as shown live on WRAL.

Ball. Good evening, Ruan, I Randy trainer. Tonight. We have another life changing jackpot. It's worth an estimated $130.2 million. So, get your tickets ready here. Come, tonight's winning numbers. Let's start things off this evening with the number 26. Right after that America. We have the number two and congratulations to Gina Magnum from North Carolina. She won $50,000 playing powerball. All right, the rest of your winning numbers tonight 20 47. And let's round it out tonight with the number 22 and tonight 20 powerball number, that's gonna be 21 and your power play multiplayer is four. Let's take another look at tonight's winning numbers. We'll see you back here on Saturday night. It's time to play America's favorite.

Powerball Drawing

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are held at 3 p.m. daily. They can be seen as live or on-demand video.

Good afternoon. I'm Luis Fernandez. Welcome to this afternoon's drawings for Wednesday, April 24th, 2024. Let's get started with Carolina pick three. The first pick three number is two, second is eight and the third is eight and our pick three fireball number is five. Join me for this afternoon's drawing is our auditor for mcconnell LP. Now let's move to Carolina pick four. The first pick four, number is five. The second is one, the third is three and the fourth is zero and our pick four. Fireball number is five. The North Carolina Education lottery has contributed over $10 billion to education and thanks for your support.

Daytime Pick 3 and Pick 4 Drawing

Brian Shrader flies over the site of a plane crash at Raleigh-Durham International Airport approximately three hours after the accident.

Seen some activity just in the past 10 minutes or so. I want to take you outside Sky five right now for a live look at the scene. We saw a van being escorted to the runway there and someone got out and now there appears to be a really careful inspection of the debris going on. So we're working to confirm if that may be the NTSB investigation team arriving at the scene. Let's zoom out and give you some about where this is. There are two main runways at RDU International and this is in the grassy field next to the runway that mostly serves terminal one on the east side of the airport, that runway remains closed while this investigation continues at the top of your screen. That is the other main runway that serves terminal two, mostly that runway is open. So we have two things going on here that could affect your flights for the rest of the day and maybe even into tomorrow, the airport takeoff and landing capacity is roughly reduced by half because they are only working with one runway. And if you have a flight coming out of terminal one, maybe Southwest, you're going to have to take that crossover all the way out to that other runway. It's going to add a lot of extra time.

Sky 5 flies over RDU plane crash 3 hours later 

A UNC Health physician and pilot were taken to the hospital Wednesday after a small plane crashed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).


Sky 5 flies over plane crash at RDU

RDU Airport Authority gives an update on a plane crash that sent a physician and pilot to the hospital. The crash occurred Wednesday morning on a flight that took off from Wilmington.

<p>Landguth first, I want to extend my thoughts to those affected by this morning's aircraft accident and thank our first responders for their quick action to respond. The airport authority and its mutual aid partners responded to an aircraft accident at RDU involving a general aviation aircraft. The accident occurred at approximately 10:10 a.m. in the grass next to runway five, right 23 left. The flight was arriving from Wilmington, North Carolina. The A the aircraft is owned by medical Air Inc and operated by UN C air operations. The aircraft had two people on board, one pilot and one passenger. Both were transported to area hospitals. The federal A Bush administration issued a ground stop that was lifted at approximately 1130 this morning. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have both been notified. The National Transportation Safety Board is en route and expected to arrive within the next hour at which time we will conduct an accident investigation. Rdu's runway five left 23 right reopened to departing and arriving aircraft around 11:30 a.m. this morning. Are you experiencing approximately 70 delays and several arriving flights were diverted to other airports? Until ground stock was lifted, travelers should contact their airline for the latest updates regarding the flight status. And of course questions about the identity and condition of the pilot and passenger should be directed to UN C health. And at this time I'll try to answer any questions. You may have, uh, the one, any other accidents in, in the past. I'm not familiar with any other accidents have occurred with that operation. I don't know, uh, that's the role of the National Transportation Safety Board. They'll actually come in and do the investigation. Uh, and at some point in the future, they write up a report and determine what the cause of the accident was. You know, that there was no notification to the airport authority or to the FAA uh about any type of emergency on board. Do we have a guy? We don't, all we know that we've got them out of the airplane and we've got them transported to local hospitals. We know situations like this and delays have a ripple effect on, you know, flights. Do you have any idea what type of impact we'll see here in our view and for not sure, but what we're going to encourage everybody to do is reach out to your airlines. We'll be able to give you real time information about the impact of your particular flight. Ok. I believe some of them went to Greensboro and I think a couple went to Charlotte as well. What, what to be impacted due to the NTSD. Say that one more time at this point in time, what we call the west side of our airport is now open the investigation they'll conduct will all be on the east side. So at this point, we are anticipating normal operations returning to normal operations from this point forward. I don't think that anything that they're doing regarding the investigation or where they would have to investigate would have any impact to the west side of the airport. No, the aircraft is still on the airfield itself. It's on the east side of the field. So terminal one that runways the east side of the field, that's where the debris field actually sits, the west side of the field is open and operational and safe to operate. Not that I'm aware of in operations for you throughout this event today. What was your main concern concerning the passengers that were in the internals? Right. I think our primary focus when, when that accident occurred were the two people sitting in that aircraft? Our primary mission is to make sure we can get to them and try to rescue them and try to make sure that we can get them in a safe condition as fast as we possibly can. Uh secondarily is trying to figure out then how we recover and get our operations back up and running. Mhm. How does that affect? What goes on term? Yeah, so great. Question. So the team has figured out a way to get all the aircraft they're gonna operate at terminal one. Your Southwest develops. Uh We've got a crossover taxi way that we can actually get them through our general aviation aircraft. We've got a crossover taxiway, we can get them to. But the rest of the uh accident scene is actually kind of isolated and closed and locked off. Yeah, you're terminal one at this point in time. Once they can get back on their schedule, it's going to be a normal operations. All right. Thank you guys. All right. Thank you. Grab your phone, right.</p>

Mutated coronavirus spreads faster but more susceptible to potential vaccine, UNC expert says

More On This

Ralph Baric

UNC researcher behind remdesivir says limiting spread of coronavirus more effective than any treatment

Researcher: Mix of therapies attacks various problems caused by coronavirus

'Covering nose absolutely critical,' UNC researcher says in advocating for masks

UNC researcher discusses potential therapy for COVID-19

UNC researcher discusses battle against COVID-19

Related Topics

More Videos