COVID-19 variants in Florida have doubled, says the CDC

Florida has twice as many confirmed cases of a COVID-19 variant as last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new issue released Monday, raising concerns that a more contagious strain is spreading.

The latest CDC data show 293 confirmed cases of COVID-19 caused by variants in the United States. Of these, 92 are in Florida – twice as many as 46 cases confirmed in the state since last week.

The CDC does not specify the location of these cases in the states.

The number of confirmed cases in Florida is the highest in the county, with California being close to 90.

Health experts have warned that the more contagious and probably more deadly variant, which runs through the UK, will likely become the dominant source of infection in the US by March.

Other mutant versions are circulating in South Africa and Brazil. The Brazilian variant was first detected in the United States in a Minnesota resident who recently traveled to the South American country, state health officials said on Monday.

The more the virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to move. The fear is that it will eventually make vaccines ineffective.

To guard against the new variants, President Joe Biden added South Africa on Monday to the list of more than two dozen countries whose residents are subject to coronavirus restrictions upon entering the United States.

Most non-Americans who have been to Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and other European nations will be denied access to the United States under Biden’s rules after President Donald Trump moved to relax.

Fauci said scientists are already preparing to adjust COVID-19 vaccines to combat mutant versions.

He said there was “a very slight and modest decline” in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against these variants, but “there is enough pillow with the vaccines we have to continue to be considered effective” against both.

Moderna, the manufacturer of one of the two vaccines used in the US, announced on Monday that it is starting to test a possible booster dose for the South African version. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said the move came out of “a lot of caution” after preliminary lab tests suggested his blow produced a weaker immune response to the variant.

Florida on Monday checked 1,658,169 COVID-19 cases from the start of the outbreak and 25,446 resident deaths, according to the state health department.