According to the Vegas Information Network, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on December 30 that the densely populated Southern California had a British variant of the new coronavirus infection. The news was announced during an online conversation between Newsom and Fauci, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and chief adviser on epidemic prevention at the White House.
Recently, Colorado first detected two cases of variant COVID-19. Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the variant COVID-19 virus circulating in the UK may have spread from person to person in the United States.
Officials said that the confirmed infected persons in Colorado and California have never travelled recently and are currently in isolation and treatment.
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California Governor Newsom said that the variant COVID-19 infection in California was a 30-year-old man in San Diego County, Southern California, who was tested and confirmed two days after the onset of symptoms.
At the time when the mutated new coronavirus in California, the state government is under tremendous pressure from the growing pandemic crisis. The number of infected patients in the hospital is increasing and is expected to continue to increase in the next few weeks. State health officials are very worried about the folk New Year gatherings in the next few days.
On the 30th, Henry Walke, director of the Department of Prevention and Emerging Infections, said that although there is no evidence that the virus will cause more severe symptoms or increase the fatality rate, it may increase more confirmed cases and further impact the already overwhelmed medical system.
Florida health officials said on the 1st that the British new crown variant virus strain has been detected, which is the third state in the United States to report a confirmed case of the virus.
“There is evidence that Martin County, Florida, has the first case of a mutation of the British new crown virus. This man is a male in his 20s and has no history of travel.” The Florida Department of Health said on Twitter on Thursday.
Colorado and California have successively discovered confirmed cases of the British new crown mutation this week.
However, according to media reports, the confirmed cases in Colorado and California have no travel history.
Nevada has not yet found its traces, but will gradually strengthen monitoring. Experts said that although this particular strain of the virus appears to be more contagious, no new testing is currently required.
Shadaba Asad, Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at the University of Las Vegas Medical Center (UMC), said: “Preliminary epidemiological indicators do show that this particular variant is associated with increased transmissibility. As of now, there is no Evidence shows that the newly discovered variant causes more serious diseases than the viruses we have seen before.”
In the medical world, it is often referred to as “B117”. Although this strain of the virus has only recently been discovered in the United States, Assad speculates that it may have existed here longer than people thought.
She said: “This may have happened in the United States, and when it happened, we were not actually looking for it. We don’t know how popular this variant is in the United States, because until recently, we had no strain monitoring in the United States. Put a lot of energy into it.”
Dr. Mark Pandori, head of testing at the Nevada Public Health Laboratory, said that so far, the strain has not been found in Nevada. “This is a question of when, not whether it will happen. Even if it was discovered in Colorado, there is currently no evidence to show whether it has spread to other parts of the United States.”
Pandora said that the Nevada Public Health Laboratory is strengthening genetic monitoring and testing capabilities. He said: “After the holidays, we will be able to screen every positive case in Nevada, looking for the genome associated with B117, in order to determine as widely as possible whether this strain is in our community. As we enter 2021 , The test bandwidth of the Nevada Public Health Laboratory should be much larger than at the end of 2020.”
Assad said: “The usual PCR tests available should still be able to detect this mutation. Routine PCR tests depend on detecting multiple genes to identify the COVID-19 virus. If you have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus and have a certain degree of natural immunity Or being vaccinated, the immunity conferred by these two processes should still be effective against this specific variant.”
Pandora said: “In order to escape the immunity generated by vaccines or natural infections, the COVID virus must accumulate multiple mutations in the spike protein. The spread of this particular virus strain is a concern for health experts because the healthcare system is very Bo. I beg people to wear masks and social distancing to help slow the spread of the virus. The same measures taken to prevent wider spread also apply to new strains. As for whether it will cause more cases? Only time Can answer, and there are many variables. If we continue to implement all these mitigation measures, we hope that the spread of this variant can still be controlled. If the virus spreads more easily, it means that these measures are more important than in the past.”
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and chief adviser to the White House for epidemic prevention, said that he is not surprised that the United States has recently been infected with the British variant of the new coronavirus, but he said that there is currently no sign that the virus is more than the new coronavirus that has appeared in the United States since February. It is pathogenic, and there is no evidence that the virus will weaken the protection of the new crown vaccine. Fauci called on the people to remain calm and not to panic.
Fauci predicts that April next year is expected to become an “open season” for vaccines, allowing people to get vaccinated if they want. If Americans can actively vaccinate the new crown vaccine from April to July, it is expected that 70% to 85% of the people will be vaccinated in early autumn. Formation of herd immunity, it is expected to gradually return to a normal life.
As of 3 o’clock on December 31, there were more than 19.74 million confirmed cases of new coronavirus infection in the United States and more than 342,000 deaths. (Original title: Variant new coronavirus has spread to Americans, but not found in Nevada)