More cases of new variant of Covid discovered in the United States, threatening to worsen the epidemic in the country

Three states across the United States have now identified cases of the new strain of coronavirus in people with no travel history, a sign the variant may already be unknowingly spreading among Americans.

Florida health officials said Thursday they have found the first case of Covid-19 in the state with the new, more infectious variant of the virus. The man, who lives in the county just north of West Palm Beach, is in his 20s and has never traveled, the Florida Department of Health said in a Twitter message.

The man from Florida is among the first people to be diagnosed with the new variant, known as B.1.1.7., First identified in the UK. California has now identified at least four cases of the new strain in San Diego County in men with no reported travel history. The cases came just days after Colorado health officials detected the first two cases in people who had not traveled.

“I’m not surprised that you have a case, and probably more cases, in California,” White House coronavirus adviser Dr Anthony Fauci told Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday after announcing officials state health officials had found their first case. “We will probably see reports from other states.”

U.S. health officials said the variant’s arrival in the country came as no surprise, although it could make matters worse if allowed to spread unchecked. Although evidence indicates that the new strain spreads more easily and quickly compared to previous versions of the virus, it is not believed to cause more serious illness in those infected and current vaccines should still work against it, officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. during a conference call Wednesday.

Still, the new variant threatens to make matters worse if more people are hospitalized due to its spread, experts have said. December was the deadliest month in the pandemic in the United States, as hospitals reached capacity and the much-anticipated vaccine rollout ended slower than expected.

The country reported more than 6.3 million new infections and more than 77,500 deaths in December, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. As 2021 approaches, just over 125,000 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 – more than double the highs set for mid-April last year, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project, run by journalists by The Atlantic.

Another area of ​​concern: The first cases of the new variant were discovered in the country’s most populous states in the middle of a busy holiday season, Mercedes Carnethon, vice president of preventive medicine at the center, told MSNBC on Friday. ‘Northwestern University.

TSA officials said they screened 1.28 million passengers at U.S. airports on Sunday after Christmas, the highest number since Covid halted its trip in mid-March.

“We can be sure from the photographs we have all seen of TSA checkpoints during the holidays that millions of people have traveled among these destinations,” Carnethon said. “We can be pretty confident that this variant is now everywhere.”

Recent evidence from Imperial College London also shows that the new variant appears to affect people under the age of 20 more than older adults. However, part of that change could be due to schools being left open during a period of lockdown orders, according to the study.

The age difference could be a problem as younger people are more likely to be in the community as essential workers, and they are not the first to get the vaccine, Carnethon said.

“I think the priority, in my opinion, should be to reinforce the basic messages that we know about how to stop community transmission,” said Carnethon. “As we are well aware, our vaccination strategy begins with strengthening our infrastructure of healthcare workers. However, it is not necessarily the population that is driving the community spread of the coronavirus.”