Dozens of people in Southern California are now infected with a new strain of coronavirus – Deadline

As of Monday, there were four confirmed cases in southern California of the new, more contagious strain of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Officials said on Tuesday that the number had risen to at least 26.

Twenty-four confirmed cases and four probable cases of the most contagious strain of SARS-CoV2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, had been identified in San Diego County, the Health and Human Services Agency announced on Tuesday. humans in this region.

San Diego’s 24 confirmed cases of the variant that first appeared in the UK – known as B.1.1.7 – as well as two previously identified in San Bernardino County, bring the southern total from California to at least 26. According to health officials, infections seem almost evenly divided between men and women. The new strain is estimated to be 50-70% more infectious than the widely used mineral variant.

The rapid increase in UK hospitalizations due to B.1.1.7 forced that country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lock down the entire country on Monday.

The UK’s Covid-19 curve is now almost vertical. pic.twitter.com/ZtRCJRDzwA

– George Eaton (@georgeeaton) January 3, 2021

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also announced a lockdown in her country on Monday. Wales and Northern Ireland are already strictly blocked.

The new strain has reportedly been identified in at least 33 countries and four US states, including Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New York and California.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state is analyzing selected samples by genome sequencing, but has yet to find B.1.1.7 infections.

Southern California’s new total includes at least 24 cases confirmed by whole-genome sequencing and four probable cases that are directly linked to the confirmed cases and have positive diagnostic nucleic acid tests, but are yet to be sequenced.

The two dozen new cases of variants were confirmed Jan. 4 from samples taken Dec. 27 through Dec. 31 and tested at Helix Lab in San Diego and its partner Illumina as part of a Centers surveillance project. for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been no COVID-19 related deaths linked to B.1.1.7, but a woman had to be hospitalized. She is now at home recovering.

The 24 newly infected Californians are believed to have no travel history related to the infection. They are believed to come from 19 different households, but investigations and contact tracing are ongoing.

The new cases have been identified in San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa and Lakeside. The infections affect several age groups. While the four youngest cases are under 10 and the oldest is over 70, the average age of variant cases to date is 36, the same as the overall average for all confirmed cases. in the county to date.

These data would seem to contradict a recent study in the UK which seemed to indicate that B.1.1.7 was spreading more easily among young people, but, of course, California’s sample size so far is tiny.

“The fact that these cases have been identified in multiple parts of the region shows that this strain of the virus could spread quickly,” said Wilma Wooten, MD, MPH County Public Health Officer. “People should be very careful to avoid catching and spreading COVID-19, especially this variant, which research has shown to be more contagious.”

The variant was first identified on December 30 in a San Diego man in his 30s. He had no apparent travel history. Three more cases were announced on December 31. No B.1.1.7 infection has yet been identified in Los Angeles County but as of Tuesday Los Angeles health officials had only tested 80 samples out of the total 840,611 positive cases of Covid-19 identified date in the county.

Los Angeles Director of Public Health Dr Barbara Ferrer said Angelenos should assume the new variant is loose in the county.

San Diego County has asked all testing labs that have the capacity to identify suspected cases of the new strain to send samples for genome sequencing to determine if they are indeed cases of the variant. Local doctors have also been asked to pass positive Covid-19 tests on patients with a history of travel to the UK or other places abroad where variants have been detected.

“We are doing everything we can to determine how quickly this new strain is spreading, especially as the daily number of cases in the region has increased dramatically in recent weeks,” Wooten said.

There is also a variant known as 501.V2, which was first identified in South Africa. Like B.1.1.7, it appears to be more contagious. The strain is believed to have spread to South America and Brazil, although it is summer in the southern hemisphere, a season that has traditionally seen less spread of the virus.

Although it is suspected that current vaccines will provide protection against the British and South African strains, there are concerns that the antibody drugs often used to treat Covid-19 will be less effective against the latter.