The US case of the new COVID strain was first confirmed by a man with no travel experience, the variant that UK scientists think is more infectious than COVID-19.
Governor Jared Polis confirmed Tuesday that the first recorded US case of the new COVID-19 version, which has been detected in the United Kingdom, has been found in Colorado.
The variant was observed in a man in his 20s who is in isolation southeast of Denver and has no travel background, state health officials said.
The Colorado State Laboratory verified the variant of the virus, and notice was issued to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scientists in the UK think that the variant is 70% more infectious than strains traditionally described. The vaccinations being offered now, Colorado health officials said in a news release, are believed to be safe against the variant.
Public health authorities are reviewing other possible incidents and doing touch tracing to assess the variant’s distribution across the state.
“There is a lot we don’t know about this new COVID-19 variant, but scientists in the UK are warning the world that it is significantly more contagious.
“The health and safety of Coloradans is our top priority, and we will closely monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely,” Polis said.
Polis and state health officials are expected to hold a news conference on Wednesday.
Since Saturday, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a new form of the coronavirus seemed to spread more easily than previous one, making concern rise about the new variant and had passed quickly across England. It was in southeast England, where the nation’s first variant case was found.
Dozens of countries barred UK airlines, and stringent lockout procedures were put in effect for southern England. Scientists have said that there is cause for caution, but there should be no alarm triggered by the new strains.
New coronavirus strains have been seen almost since the virus was first identified about a year ago in China. When they reproduce and pass through one population, it is normal for viruses to undergo small changes. How scientists trace the propagation of a virus from one location to another are the minor modifications.
But where there are big mutations in the virus, it is troubling that new vaccinations may no longer provide the same protections. While this is a chance for the coronavirus to be tracked over time, researchers have said they do not think the new strain to be the case.
President-elect Joe Biden said that it could take years at existing delivery rates for most Americans to be vaccinated for the virus.
Biden’s prediction of a grim winter appeared to be aimed at reducing public expectations that the pandemic will end soon after he takes office on January 20, while also sending a message to Congress that his administration will want to significantly increase spending on speeding up the distribution of vaccines, expanding testing and providing state funding to help reopen schools.
“As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. At the current rate, “it’s going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”
Biden said about two million people had been vaccinated, just short of the 20 million promised by the end of the year by outgoing President Donald Trump.
Canada, Italy, India and the United Arab Emirates have also found the version.
Source: Al Jazeera