UK variant of coronavirus surfaces in Orange County – Orange County Register

A San Clemente man has caught a new, apparently more contagious variant of COVID-19, Orange County’s first known case of the so-called British strain and likely not the last, public health officials said on Monday February 8.

The 21-year-old tested positive for the variant on January 26, Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the OC Health Care Agency and county health official, wrote on Monday in a note to council monitoring.

“Her symptoms are now resolved,” Chau wrote. “He has no history of international travel. It is not part of a larger epidemic. We’re trying to get his close contacts tested to see if they have any signs of infection. “

The California Department of Public Health reported the case to the county health agency over the weekend, Chau said.

Staff from the state’s health department said on Monday that further details could not be made public to protect patient privacy.

The variant – known as B.1.1.7 – was first discovered in the UK in September and is rapidly spreading around the world. It is one of the few COVID-19 mutations that scientists are working to learn more about, including whether they cause more serious illness than the original strain of coronavirus that triggered the pandemic.

“Viruses are constantly changing by mutation and new variants of a virus should appear over time. Sometimes new variants emerge and disappear. Other times, new variants emerge and persist, ”Chau wrote.

Because the man contracted the new strain without traveling overseas, there are likely other cases of UK variants in Orange County that have yet to be identified, Dr Matt Zahn said, Deputy County Health Officer and Medical Director of Communicable Disease Control of Public Health Services. Division.