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The new, possibly faster, variant of COVID-19 first detected in South Africa has arrived in the Houston area, according to Houston Methodist Hospital.
The hospital system said it found the first case of the disturbing strain in the region on Saturday during genome sequencing of positive test results. He also found two cases of the variant first discovered in the UK, which were first confirmed in the Houston area in early January.
Early evidence showed that both variants can spread faster than the currently predominant strain. More than 600 cases of the British strain have been reported in 33 states, while Texas is only the fourth state to confirm a case involving the South African variant, according to data from the United States Centers for Disease Control. Maryland has three cases, South Carolina has two, and Virginia has one.
The infected person is a Fort Bend County man, who tested positive weeks ago and has recovered from the disease, said Dr Jacquelyn Johnson Minter, County Health and Human Services Director. Fort Bend. The patient had traveled the country in December before his diagnosis and fell ill a few days after returning to Fort Bend. Members of his household tested negative and he did not work while he was infected, so there was no exposure to his work, Minter said.
Still, Minter said she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the South African variant is spreading in the community.
“I think it’s important to note that this event happened several weeks ago and basically what we’ve been doing all the time will continue to protect us while we wait our turn with the vaccine,” he said. Minter said. “We continue to wear our masks, we continue to take distance and we continue to practice good hand hygiene. This will protect us from COVID regardless of which variant we come into contact with. “
The British cases involved two men from Houston, one of whom is in his 50s and is currently hospitalized with the virus.
Dr David Persse, the Houston health authority, said the latest cases prove the British strain is here and spreading in the community, and that they serve as a reminder to stay vigilant.
He said contact tracers had not yet been able to link any new cases to them, but they were more recent than the Fort Bend County case. Health workers found “very low levels” of the UK variant in the city’s wastewater sampling program.
“Ultimately, and it’s really no surprise, the British variant wasn’t just that one month case found in Harris County,” Persse said. “This gentleman was probably infected here. It’s here. It now appears on Methodist radars, it now appears in hospitals, it now appears in sewage.
Dr Wesley Long, who works with the Methodist sequencing effort, said there was no evidence from clinical trials of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that they are less effective against the variants, especially the British strain . The CDC said some preliminary evidence shows the Moderna vaccine may be less effective, but more studies are needed.
Long said there was also limited evidence that certain other vaccines and therapies that target the COVID-19 spike protein might be less effective against the South African variant, although they should still provide benefits to the most people. South Africa recently stopped its use of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford after evidence emerged that it did not protect against mild or moderate illness.
The CDC says “rigorous and increased compliance” with mitigation strategies such as social distancing and wearing masks is necessary to combat the spread of the virus.
“These variants appear to spread more easily and faster than other variants, which can lead to more cases of COVID-19,” the CDC warns on its website. “An increase in the number of cases will put more strain on healthcare resources, lead to more hospitalizations and potentially more deaths.
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