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The United States has recorded more than 460 cases of a more easily transmissible coronavirus variant that was first identified in the UK at the end of last year. But one state has reported more cases of variant B.1.1.7 than any other: Florida.
Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that Florida has recorded 147 of the total 467 cases of the B.1.1.7 mutation that have been identified in the country. California follows behind with 113 cases, while New York is third with 42.
Colorado was the first US state to identify the mutation along with other states that quickly followed suit.
The strain has been dominant in the UK since mid-December and is thought to spread around 50% more easily than COVID-19. Additionally, British scientists recently said the strain could be more deadly.
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Early data suggests that existing coronavirus vaccines will remain effective against variants, although a strain that was first detected in South Africa has decreased the effectiveness of the vaccines.
The variants have raised concerns among infectious disease experts still struggling to help the country take control of COVID-19. Dr Anthony Fauci, for example, warned late last week that these mutations “have clinical consequences” and should serve as a “wake-up call” that vaccines currently in development may need to be modified to combat new strains. .
Fauci’s comments came hours after Johnson & Johnson published a study showing that its single-shot vaccine was 72% effective in the United States against moderate to severe coronaviruses, but fell to 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa where the B.1.351 variant has taken over.
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“What we now know from this study, namely the J&J and Novavax study, that the antigenic variations, that is to say the mutations that lead to a different lineage, have clinical consequences because as you can see , even if the long-term effect in the sense of critical illness is still reasonably well managed by vaccines, it is a wake-up call to all of us that we are going to face, as the virus uses its devices to escape pressure, especially immunological pressure, that we will continue to see the evolution of mutants, ”Fauci said at Friday’s White House coronavirus briefing.
Fox News’s Alexandria Hein and Kayla Rivas contributed to this report.
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