R.1 COVID variant is “already extinct” in the United States, according to health authority

The R.1 variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus is “already extinct” in the United States, according to Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

“It’s a variant that because of its properties worries people. But it has already died out,” Ferrer said. The Los Angeles Times Tuesday. “This variant no longer appears to be in circulation in the United States.”

The R.1 variant was first identified in California in December 2020. It has not been reported in the state since May, officials from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) told the publication.

Only 70 cases of the variant have been reported in the state since its first appearance. Due to its low prevalence in the state, Ferrer believes it is unlikely to continue to circulate widely across the country.

The R.1 variant was first detected in Japan at the end of November 2020.

The variant has raised concerns in the United States after it infected 45 residents and staff at a Kentucky nursing home. It was then detected in 47 US states and 35 countries around the world. The researchers found that his mutations helped him bypass the antibody protection provided by COVID-19 vaccinations.

But neither the World Health Organization (WHO) nor the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have classified the R.1 variant as of concern or of interest, a classification that indicates its potential to have widespread health impacts. Globally, there had been 10,573 known cases of variant R.1 as of September 24.

On September 20, the WHO downgraded the COVID-19 variants Eta, Iota and Kappa from “variants of concern” to “variants under surveillance.”

R.1 and other variants have all remained much less common than the Delta variant. As of September 20, the Delta variant accounted for 99% of all COVID-19 cases in the country, according to US News & World Report.

“I do not suspect [the R.1 variant] will be a major problem because it doesn’t have the capacity to move Delta, ”said Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Health magazine. “It’s really difficult for these types of mutations to gain a foothold in a country where the Delta variant is present.”

COVID-19 patients infected with the Delta variant tend to be younger, have more severe symptoms, require more mechanical ventilation, stay in intensive care longer and die more frequently, Jim Souza told Buzzfeed , Chief Medical Officer of St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center. New.

News week contacted the CRPD for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.