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- Maryland officials said a Baltimore man caught the variant of the coronavirus first found in South Africa.
- The man had not traveled overseas and likely caught the variant locally, the governor of Maryland said.
- The mutant variant is more contagious, but it’s not believed to be more deadly.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
The United States has identified its third case of the more contagious variant of the coronavirus found in South Africa – this time in a man from Maryland.
The man, from the Baltimore area, had not traveled outside the country, Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement, meaning it is “likely” he caught him in the community.
This is the third case of the variant found in the United States: South Carolina state officials on Thursday announced the first two confirmed cases of the variant in the country. Neither person had traveled outside of the United States and the two cases were unrelated, public health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the variant, named B.1.351, can “spread more easily and quickly,” but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. The variant has a mutation on its spike protein, which the coronavirus uses to invade human cells.
Read more: Coronavirus variants threaten to disrupt the progress of the pandemic. Here’s how the top 4 vaccine makers are fighting back.
Hogan said Maryland health officials were trying to identify and test the man’s contacts, as well as “closely monitor SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.351 in the state.”
“We strongly encourage people in Maryland to be more careful to limit the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant. Please continue to apply standard public health and safety measures, including wearing a mask, regular hand washing, and physical distancing.
The man did not need to go to a hospital and is recovering at home, Maryland Department of Health spokesperson Charles Gischlar told the Washington Post.
Maryland has confirmed 352,726 cases of COVID-19. Nationwide, nearly 26 million cases have been confirmed and the virus has killed more than 435,000 people, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Studies suggest that vaccines are effective against the variant
The latest evidence suggests that the vaccines work against the variant – albeit slightly less effective than against the original virus.
A study published Wednesday showed that Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine worked against a lab-made coronavirus similar to the South African variant. The performance was slightly lower than that of the original virus, but it was “unlikely to lead to a significant reduction” in efficacy, the pharmaceutical companies said. Moderna announced similar results from a study on Monday.
There is not yet enough data to say whether vaccines work against the variant outside of laboratory conditions.
Some studies have suggested that the variant may be able to evade antibodies produced by the body. Pfizer and Moderna, which manufacture the two vaccines licensed in the United States, are developing new versions of their vaccines to counter the variant.
President Joe Biden has banned travelers from South Africa from entering the United States.
The United States has also reported cases of mutant variants found in Brazil and the United Kingdom. The variant first identified in the UK, B.1.1.7, is the most common of the three variants now confirmed in the US, and experts believe it has been circulating in the US for several weeks.
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