MEL LEONOR Richmond Times-Dispatch As hundreds of thousands of Virginians get their shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, disease surveillance experts are turning their worries to those who remain unvaccinated â potential hosts for mutations of the virus. Some mutations, strong variants bred far from here, are already present in Virginia, spreading more quickly than the virus we already knew. Looming is the threat of a mutation that thwarts safety measures, medical treatments and even vaccines â essentially the stateâs reopening. The ongoing challenge for health officials here and across the nation is that they canât grapple with what they canât see: Minimal testing of positive COVID-19 samples for variants, a disjointed patchwork, is leaving an elusive picture of variant prevalence. Building up that capacity, which is an ongoing effort, could prove critical in the face of a dangerous mutation.