In-Depth: The flaw with U.S. efforts to track coronavirus variants Scientists say there are flaws in the nation's monitoring system for COVID-19 variants and the true impact of these cases on patients. and last updated 2021-05-25 21:32:14-04 SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- The announcement of $1.75 billion in federal funding has rapidly expanded efforts to sequence genetic information from COVID-19 viral samples in search of troublesome variants, but scientists say more work needs to be done to address a key limitation in the nationâs early warning system. Across the country, labs are now sequencing about 35,000 viral samples each week, or about 10 percent of all confirmed cases, according to Mary Lee Watts of the American Society for Microbiology.