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MURRAY – If the coronavirus variants that are now spreading across the United States become dominant strains, health experts fear the potential for a spring breakout.
This is why the speed of the vaccination campaign and the measures to protect public health are so important.
On January 15, the Utah Department of Health confirmed the first case of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant in Utah, known as the “British variant,” thanks to ongoing genetic sequencing of positive samples to COVID-19.
According to Dr Eddie Stenehjem, infectious disease physician at Intermountain Healthcare, Utahns must maintain personal protective measures until the vaccine has an impact.
“From an epidemiological point of view, we are going in the right direction and we have to make sure we continue to do what we are doing,” said Stenehjem.
While Utah’s critical COVID-19 numbers are currently pointing in the right direction, Stenehjem said the variants could change that.
“It’s definitely one of our concerns to really monitor this current situation with the viral variants,” he said. “It just emphasizes that we need to get out of vaccines because it looks like vaccines protect against these variants.”
It’s a race to get the vaccines faster than the variants can spread.
We’re on the right track right now, as long as people continue to disguise themselves, limit their contact, and not congregate in large groups.
–Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, infectious disease physician at Intermountain Healthcare
An update to the COVID-19 forecast from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which includes highly transmissible variants, shows the potential for 25,000 more deaths over the next three months. Researchers predict a total of 160,000 additional deaths before May 1.
The British strain has now been detected in 33 states, including Utah.
“If that was a predominant mode of infection here in Utah, I think we would know at this point because of how much they’re sequencing,” Stenehjem said.
As state health officials continue to track strains, Stenehjem said we must continue to protect ourselves.
“We are on the right track right now, as long as people continue to mask themselves, limit their contact and not get together in large groups,” he said.
If Utah can get vaccines quickly, he said, and protect our communities more, then we can worry less about variant strains.
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