[ad_1]
EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin (WEAU, WMTV) – The Eau Claire City County Department of Health said it has discovered that a resident of Eau Claire has been confirmed to have the new strain of COVID-19, adding that they had discovered this information Wednesday.
The health service confirmed that the person had traveled abroad and had only close family contact. The individual tested positive at the very end of December and they have completed their period of complete isolation. They have also never been hospitalized.
Health officials add that this case is not expected to cause any spread in the community when the person is quarantined.
The variant strain doesn’t seem to make people sicker but spreads faster, added director Lieske Giese. It is not known to have a higher death rate or more severe symptoms.
Dr Ken Johnson of Prevea says that in terms of testing more people for the new strain, health officials know the new strain is circulating, but the way out of this pandemic is to act if the strain is anywhere. He also added that this new strain is unlikely to be resistant to the vaccine.
Giese asks people to keep getting tested, to stay six feet from others, and to wear a mask.
The new variant of the coronavirus that originally circulated widely in England has reached Wisconsin. Health officials say the new strain was found in Eau Claire County.
The Department of Health Services reported that it had confirmed that the variant, which appears to be spreading faster and faster than the current strain, was here on Tuesday.
He noted that although apparently more contagious, the new strain does not appear to be more deadly or cause more severe symptoms of COVID-19.
“We already know that COVID-19 is easily transmitted by respiratory droplets, and with this new variant which appears to be even more contagious, it is even more important to take preventative measures like wearing a mask and keeping away physical, ”said Andrea Palm, secretary-designate of DHS. .
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway previously warned the variant was likely already in the state after it was confirmed in neighboring Minnesota. DHS chief medical officer Dr Ryan Westergaard noted that virus mutations are “very common” and that variants of the coronavirus are expected.
“As time passes in the pandemic and the virus continues to replicate on a large scale, the genetic sequence of the virus will change,” he said.
The mutated strain was discovered with the help of laboratory partners, the DHS explained, through continuous monitoring and whole genome sequencing.
The Eau Claire City County Health Department is to hold an update on COVID-19 at 4 p.m. to discuss the new variant.
Copyright 2021 WEAU. All rights reserved.
[ad_2]
Source link