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SALT LAKE CITY – Three Utahns have tested positive for the UK variant COVID-19, health officials have confirmed.
“The British variant is known to be more transmissible, therefore more easily passed from person to person and it is not clear whether or not it causes more serious disease,” said Dr Bert Lopansari of Intermountain Healthcare.
As Utah sees a positive trend in COVID-19 cases, Dr Lopansari says now is not the time to relax.
“Viruses, like all living things, want to survive,” he said. “And when given the opportunity, viruses will adapt and change to survive.”
READ: Department of Health: 1,201 more COVID-19 cases in Utah; 17 additional deaths
The British variant that was found in Utah isn’t the only variant of COVID-19 there, according to Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric diseases at the University of Utah.
“The first thing to know about these new varieties is that there are a lot of them. The virus evolves as it progresses and what it does is it becomes more and more transmissible, ”he said.
READ: Is a cloth mask enough? Dr Fauci says it’s ‘common sense’ that 2 masks work better than 1
Dr Pavia warned that a more transmissible virus meant it would be more difficult to keep it under control.
“We need to be more careful about wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding large gatherings until everyone is vaccinated or a large part of the population is vaccinated,” he said .
Lisa O’Brien says the idea of a more contagious strain of the virus is concerning. Eleven months ago, she started having symptoms of COVID-19. O’Brien is a long haul COVID-19 and created a Facebook group for long-haul travelers in Utah.
“There will be more long-haul flights and I’m worried about that. I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve been through for the past 11 months. It’s not a way of life, ”she said. “The last thing we want to do is take it back and experience what we’ve been through everywhere.”
READ: Intermountain Healthcare processes 1 million COVID-19 tests
Make no mistake, says Dr Pavia, just because someone hasn’t tested positive for COVID-19 so far into the pandemic that they have the antibodies.
“Every day we have people coming in saying, ‘I’ve been so good until now, I thought I was protected and now I’m sick with COVID,’” he said.
Although healing from COVID-19 gives people a layer of protection, it is not known how long immunity lasts, Dr Pavia said.
“The people most likely to be re-infected either had very mild illness or they’ve come in contact with one of these new strains,” he said.
The good news, Dr Pavia said, is that the masks appear to be effective in preventing the transmission of newer variants of COVID-19.
“It makes sense that you make sure you have a properly fitted multi-layer mask,” he said. “The best form of double masking if you ask me is that you wear a mask and I wear a mask,”
For the latest information on COVID-19 in Utah, Click here.
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