ITHACA, N.Y. (WENY) — New information is coming out every day about new strains of COVID-19, a professor from Cornell explains how new variants are discovered and how they can infect more people.

Laura Goodman, an assistant research professor at Cornell University, says viral mutations aren't a new concept and changes in Coronavirus weren't unexpected. Goodman says the way people are tested for COVID-19 is the only reason scientists discovered the U.K. strain of the virus.

"It just so happens that one of the mutations in B.1.1.7 took out part of the ability of the test to detect one gene of the virus," Goodman said.

That missing gene was a sign the virus had mutated and changed, but Goodman says these mutations aren't intentional.

"Part of that has to do with mistakes, it's mistakes that they make when they replicate their own genome."

For several years, scientists have been using the mutations in bacterial genomes, the set of chromosomes that make up cells in an organism, to track food-borne outbreaks. Goodman says a similar method could be used to track any changes in COVID-19.

"It has really helped to cut down on the response time for food recalls. We have all the tools we need to do this with the viruses as well, we just need the resources."

Similar to recalls on food, Goodman says this could help scientists recognize a new strain of COVID-19 before an outbreak happens.

"We need to take advantage of these excellent networks that we have for food-borne illness. We need to tap into this and give those institutions the resources to also help out with tracking the virus causing COVID."

Without those resources in place, one of the only ways to keep tabs on any changes in COVID-19 is testing, especially for people who can't isolate themselves. According to Professor Goodman, mutations only happen when the virus is in an environment where it can spread easily.

"Which only happens when people come together and it has that opportunity to infect another person, it's going to make more copies of itself."

Goodman says when viruses mutate in a way that is beneficial to its survival, that mutation of the virus will multiply and spread. 

"If it just so happens that those mutations help to increase their levels and make them more infectious, then those are just going to get propagated. They might be better at re-infecting people who had previous infections or potentially some level of immunity."

In the case of the UK strain, it became more infectious. 

"Now, we're not sure why that is. It could be that people need a smaller amount of the virus to get infected or it could be that people who are infected produce and transmit more of the virus. There are a lot of unknowns."

Researchers believe we'll see even more strains of COVID-19 pop-up and getting more vaccines into arms could help slow the spread of future variants.

"The vaccines all still work and we should really be doubling down and getting as many vaccines into arms as possible," Goodman said.

Just like the flu shot, Goodman believes vaccine companies will update the COVID-19 vaccine to be more effective against new strains.