Medical staff are examining a coronavirus patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at United Memorial Medical Center on November 16, 2020 in Houston, Texas.
Go to Nakamura | Getty Images
Texas public health officials announced Thursday that they have identified the state’s first case of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus that was originally discovered in the United Kingdom.
The patient, a man between the ages of 30 and 40, with no recent travel history, was found in Harris County, home in Houston, the county’s public health department said in a statement. The man was isolated and in a stable condition, and local infectious disease experts are tracking all contacts to find and monitor other people who may have been exposed to the virus.
The variant is likely to already be circulating in Texas because the man had no previous travel history, Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said in a statement. He added that the genetic variations of the viruses “are the norm” and it is not surprising that the variant was discovered in Texas, given how quickly it spreads.
“This should make us all double our commitment to the infection prevention practices we know work: masks whenever you’re around people you don’t live with, social distancing and personal and environmental hygiene.” , said Hellerstedt.
Shortly after Texas officials announced their first case, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said in a tweet that his state had identified two Covid-19 cases with the new variant, known as B.1.1.7 , in people aged between 15 and 25 years. Both patients had out-of-state travel histories – one in Ireland and the other in New York State, Lamont said.
“As I said last week, given the speed of this new thread of the virus and its identification in several states across the country, I assumed it was already in our state and this morning’s information confirms that,” he said. the governor in a tweet.
The strain, which has also been found in California, Georgia, New York, Florida and Colorado, is thought to be more transmissible, but does not appear to make people sick or increase the risk of death from Covid-19, experts said. . Earlier Thursday, Pennsylvania health officials said they had identified their state’s first case with the new variant.
Harris Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s top official, said in a tweet on Thursday that the discovery of the variant in the area is “disturbing”, given the already rapid spread there.
As of Thursday, the county has remained at the most severe level of threat, “level one,” which means that efforts to test and track contacts are tense and outbreaks are “present or getting worse,” according to the county.
When the county is at this level, residents are advised to leave their homes only for essential purposes and to minimize contact with other people, when possible.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said current vaccines should work against the new variant, although more hospitalizations could take place if uncontrolled spread is allowed. Federal health officials are also looking for a second separate new strain, first identified in South Africa.
The CDC does not yet know how widespread the new variant B.1.1.7 is in the United States. The agency now requires all airline passengers traveling to the United States to submit proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken no more than three days before departure before boarding.
– CNBC He wants fire contributed to this report.