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Credit: Maryland National Guard via Flickr
A more contagious variant of the coronavirus is likely spreading widely throughout Minnesota, according to members of the Minnesota Department of Health.
The B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in the UK, has now been confirmed by genome sequencing in almost 500 Minnesotans that have tested positive for COVID-19, and that’s probably only a small piece of the puzzle.
“We have now identified 479 cases of this variant. We estimated that 50-65% of the Covid-positive samples tested from March 16 to 20 were B.1.1.7. This is an increase from samples tested from March 10 to 15. of which 38-44% of those samples were estimated to be B.1.1.7, ”state epidemiologist Dr Ruth Lynfield said in a press call Tuesday.
Lynfield said there is likely “widespread transmission” of the B.1.1.7 variant in Minnesota, adding that B.1.1.7 is “already dominant”.
“We are not identifying all cases of B117, but of those we have identified, approximately 5% were hospitalized. We will be monitoring this closely as we step up our sequencing efforts and are able to identify more cases, ”Lynfield said.
News of the variant gaining a stronghold in the state comes just as Minnesota is making significant strides on the vaccine front. About 25% of people in Minnesota have received at least one dose of a vaccine, while about 15% of the state’s 5.6 million people have completed the series of vaccines.
Lynfield described the current situation as a “race” between vaccination and the spread of B.1.1.7, which she said has a “higher attack rate”, meaning it can infect more than people than SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus that started the pandemic).
“Most Minnesotans are not yet fully vaccinated. This means that we have millions of Minnesotans susceptible to COVID-19 infection and the health impacts that go with it,” Lynfield said.
“A more infectious virus that is spreading widely among millions of susceptible Minnesotans – some who might be tempted to relax their social distancing, masking and other precautions – may help fuel a third spike in Covid cases and a corresponding increase hospitalizations and deaths.
The good news is that the vaccine has so far proven to be very effective. Of the nearly 850,000 residents of Minnesota who completed the round of vaccines, only 89 tested positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks after receiving their second injection.
None of the 89 patients who tested positive after completing the vaccine series died. The vaccines are about 95% effective, so it’s quite possible that about five in every 100 people who are fully vaccinated are still susceptible.
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