Florida has become America’s new “super-COVID” hotspot, leading the country in known cases.
At least 46 cases of the highly contagious variant first identified in the UK were found in the Sunshine State, more than double the initial figure of 22.
This happened just 20 days after the first case was identified on New Year’s Eve.
The new strain, B 1.1.7., Is feared to be up to 70 percent more transmissible and more easily spread among children.
It comes on the same day that 13 cases were identified by a laboratory in North Carolina, which did not report any cases of the variant today.
This means that almost 150 Americans have been infected with the strain since the first case was identified late last year.
Recently, Researchers at the University of Arizona say he may have been in the United States six weeks earlier than expected.
The team says the option could have been behind a group of cases in California that were being pursued until November 6 and another that took place in Florida on November 23rd.
In addition, a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that 60 counties around the world now report cases of the variant.
At least 146 Americans in 21 states have been infected with the highly contagious coronavirus variant first detected in the UK
A new WHO report found that B 1.1.7. was detected in 60 countries (yellow and striped), with 10 nations more than it was seven days ago
There are currently 146 cases in 21 US states, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of federal and state data.
This includes at least 46 cases in Florida; 40 in California; 13 in North Carolina; six in Colorado; five in Minnesota; four in Indiana and New York; two in Connecticut, Maryland and Texas; and one each in Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The North Carolina cases are most recently identified by MAKO Medical Laboratories, which has two locations in Henderson and a third in Raleigh.
“Our findings show that the mutation has begun to operate throughout the United States,” said Steve Hoover, vice president of laboratory operations at MAKO Medical.
“We are in constant communication with public health leaders to keep them informed and up to date.”
Florida, however, has ruled the country for 46 years.
Dr. Marco Salemi, a professor and molecular biologist at the University of Florida, told the Miami Herald that he calls on the state and federal governments to expand oversight of the new variant.
“We know he’s in Florida,” he said.
– What percentage [of cases] it is impossible to say. The genomes we have were probably collected before or even at the beginning of the introduction [the variant] in Florida.
The Florida Department of Health has only sequenced about 3,000 samples so far.
Last week, the CDC released a report predicting that the new variant would become the predominant strain by March 2021.
This prompted President Joe Biden to request more funding for federal genetic virus sequencing efforts.
Meanwhile, in his weekly Update released on Tuesday, the WHO announced that B 1.1.7. it is now in 10 more countries than it was seven days ago.
Countries outside the United Kingdom to report variant cases include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the United States.
The WHO report also mentioned close cousins of the variant that were first identified in South Africa and Brazil.
The South African variant has now been identified in 23 countries, three more nations than 10 days ago.
The strain first appeared in the south-east of England in October in Kent County and quickly became the dominant strain in the UK.
It led to a massive increase in infections with one in 30 Londoners infected with it and throwing the country into a third blockade.
In a recent statement, said Dr. Ashish K Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health urgent aggressive action is needed to limit the spread of new strains, as many health systems face a severe shortage of beds and resources.
“This new more infectious variant will change the underlying dynamics of the pandemic, the exponential growth of infections making the virus much more difficult to contain and overloading our stressed health system.
“The US health care system is already stunning under the burden of the pandemic caused by the current (old) strain,” he wrote.
But, most importantly, Jha says vaccination efforts at the national level need to be stepped up
Gigi Gronvall, immunologist and principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, agreed.
“I don’t think anyone thinks this is the reason we’ve had such a terrible number in the US, but that’s not a good indicator when you look at whether things could be even worse,” she told the Miami Herald. .
So we need to get the vaccines in arms as soon as possible.
