SAN FRANCISCO -- Scientists at Stanford have detected a new COVID variant that experts say is already evident in wastewater samples in California, even as access to vaccines is restricted.

COVID-19 is still evolving and scientists are keeping close tabs on NB.1.8.1, a substrain detected in China last month, and now is circulating in the Bay Area.

"It's been reported in Europe and it's been reported here in the U.S. and we've seen it here in our wastewater in California, in wastewater, so it's around," said Dr. John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley expert in infectious diseases and vaccinology.

Experts say the good news is this strain does not appear to be more virulent, but it looks like it is more contagious.

"It appears to be able to attach to the receptor sites on our cells more avidly, w

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