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Researchers are studying whether a local variant of the coronavirus that appears to be spreading faster than any other strain in California could be behind the state’s recent spate of infections over the holidays.
The Los Angeles Times reports that two independent research groups have found the new strain, dubbed B.1.426, while looking for signs that a more transmissible strain first identified in the UK was spreading throughout the Golden State.
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A single instance of the strain was found in July, but it was not discovered until three months later. While the strain was barely detectable in October, it started to become more prevalent in the following months.
According to the outlet, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found the strain made up 24% of 4,500 viral samples collected from across California in the last weeks of December.
In a separate study, the researchers found that 25% of the 332 samples taken from late November to December were of the B.1.426 strain.
“There was a local variant under our noses,” Charles Chiu, a specialist in laboratory medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, told the Los Angeles Times.
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said the strain had five mutations, including the L342R mutation, which alters the peak protein of the virus, which it uses to infiltrate human cells.
California’s death toll doubled in less than three months during the holiday season. The state has confirmed more than 3.1 million cases of COVID-19 and 36,790 deaths.
While researchers suspect the new strain has contributed to the recent increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in California, it is not known to what extent it has worsened the outbreak, as other factors such as the weather longer cold, holiday gatherings, travel, and disregard for public health measures certainly played a role.
“It probably helped speed up the number of cases around the holiday season,” said Eric Vail, a pathologist at Cedars Sinai.
“But human behavior is the predominant factor in the spread of a virus, and the fact that it happened when the weather turned colder and in the middle of the holidays when people are gathering is no accident,” did he declare.
The researchers say they are continuing to study the transmissibility of the strain.
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