UK variant of coronavirus is likely already in Florida

PINELLAS COUNTY, Florida – The apparently more contagious new variant of the coronavirus, which first appeared in the UK, is spreading to the United States, Colorado and California each have one confirmed case. Although it hasn’t been reported in Florida, a USF scientist says it’s likely the new strain is already here.

“So if it’s already in Colorado and California, it’s probably already here in Florida,” said Dr. Michael Teng, a virologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of South Florida.

While the variant appears to be more transmissible, it is no longer fatal.

“It’s here but it’s not something panicked,” Dr Teng said.

Health experts say our vaccines should be about as good at treating the variant as our current strain of the virus, once the general public is inoculated. But there is a great concern.

“We don’t currently do a lot of active surveillance for this,” Dr Teng said.

Officials in Colorado and California used genetic sequencing to discover the new strain, but this type of screening is not as widespread in the United States.

“The UK has put a lot of effort into it and does a really good job of sequencing, like 7% of all its cases. The United States, on the other hand, sequenced about 0.3%. It’s 20 times less than the UK, “he said.

Dr Teng cites the latest data from the GISAID Initiative, which provides open access to global genomic data for the coronavirus.

Sequencing is a powerful tool in the fight against the coronavirus. It allows scientists to trace and control the virus. They could identify how one type of virus led to an outbreak and develop a plan to contain it by the community. It also allows them to see how the virus has changed and if a mutation is negatively impacting the effectiveness of our current vaccines.

“We are the world leader in advanced genomics research [but] for the number of cases we have, the United States is about 43rd in the world for genome sequencing, ”said Dr Teng.

Isabel Rosales

It’s like flying without radar.

“The next variant could be one of those variants that we really don’t want in our community, the ones that can cause the vaccine to lose some of its effectiveness. It would be really bad. We are perfectly capable of detecting it. But if we don’t look for it. We’ll never find it, ”he said.

He says the US already has the brilliant mind and technology to keep up with UK production.

“It’s not the lack of capacity in the United States. It’s the lack of a really well-defined agenda with strong leadership and the impetus to do it, ”he said.

Dr Teng thinks it’s up to the American public to pressure the executives for more sequencing.

“What we want to do is try to tell the leaders to get started, and really follow up because we really need to be able to follow,” he said.

On Thursday, December 31, the FDOH confirmed a case of the new variant in Florida.