The first case of a COVID-19 variant initially found in the United Kingdom has been confirmed in Massachusetts, health officials said on Sunday.
The man, a 20-year-old Boston woman, returned to Boston on Jan. 3, where she stayed at Logan International Airport for a two-hour stopover before flying to another state, according to the Public Health Commission. Boston (BPHC).
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the woman fell ill a day after returning from a trip to the UK.
She is currently symptomatic and remains in the state where she flew from Boston, according to BPHC.
A sample taken from the woman was tested at an out-of-state laboratory as part of a process created by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the possible spread of the variant, officially called B.1.1.7, health. officials said.
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The variant is believed to spread faster than the virus form that was in the US, and surveillance tests for it in Massachusetts have continued at the State Laboratory for Public Health, in collaboration with clinical diagnostic laboratories and academic partners, according to the Department of Health. .
The contact tracers interviewed the woman with the COVID-19 variant and continue the interviews now, when the variant was confirmed as the cause of her disease, the officials said.
Efforts to prepare the health care system for further increases in cases are justified.
-CCD report on COVID-19 strain discovered in the UK
This variant, which was first detected in September and has since become incredibly widespread in the United Kingdom, appears to be more transmissible, but not more deadly, according to the CDC. But the health agency’s page on variants warns that “an increase in the number of cases will put more pressure on health care resources, will lead to more hospitalizations and possibly more deaths.”
President-elect Joe Biden announced on Friday plans to revise the coronavirus vaccine distribution program, which includes the administration of 100 million doses in the first 100 days of administration.
According to the Department of Health, there have been 88 total cases of variant B.1.1.7 identified in 14 states so far. Massachusetts is the second state in New England where it was detected, after two detected in Connecticut a week ago.
But the CDC released a report this week that because COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 could spread faster, it could become the dominant form of the virus in the United States by March.
“Efforts to prepare the health care system for further growth in cases are justified. Increased transmissibility also means that vaccination coverage must be achieved higher than anticipated in order to achieve the same level of disease control to protect the public. compared to less transmissible variants, “the CDC said.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in early January, after the virus was found in the United States, that he expected it to have already reached Massachusetts.
Gov. Charlie Baker says the new COVID-19 mutation is most likely already in Mass. And it explains the chronology of distribution of vaccines by the state.
“I think most of us are working on the assumption that he’s here,” Baker said. “There would be no reason not to do that.”
State officials say public health risk reduction measures remain the same in Massachusetts.
Existing COVID-19 vaccines are considered to be equally effective against the new variant as well as against the initial form of the virus, according to health officials and vaccine manufacturers.
There are other variants than the one discovered in the United Kingdom, including those discovered in South Africa and Brazil.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday that the COVID-19 variant first detected in the United Kingdom was detected in Colorado. Scientists in the UK believe that the variant is more contagious than previous strains of the virus.
The first US case of the variant was detected in Colorado in December. The arrival of the new variant in Massachusetts comes almost a year since the first coronavirus patient was identified in the state.
Asher Klein contributed to this report.