Health officials will have to continuously watch for new variants of the virus, so scientists can produce vaccines to fight them, he said. Researchers in Ohio said Wednesday they’ve discovered two new variants likely originating in the U.S. and that one of them quickly became the dominant strain in Columbus, Ohio, over a three-week period in late December and early January.

For the day The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 13,128.95 up with +0.43% percent or +56.52 point.the Dow is trading at 31,060.47 with a loss of –0.026% percent or  -8.22 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 3,809.84 up with +0.23% percent or +8.65 point.

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 2,111.97 with a loss of -0.75% percent or -15.99 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 1,205.16 with a loss of -0.85% percent or  -10.30 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 2,426.08  with a loss of –0.93% percent or ?22.80 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,739.67 up with +0.55% percent or  +9.47 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 2,295.14  up with  +0.093% percent or +2.14 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 2,157.79 up with +0.16% or +3.34 point.