San Diego County health officials have identified 24 more confirmed cases and four probable cases stemming from the most contagious variant of the coronavirus known as B.1.1.7.
The two dozen cases were confirmed on January 4 by tests conducted between December 27 and 31. County authorities say no patients infected with the variant have died, but one woman was hospitalized. Now he is recovering at home.
The people who tested positive are believed to have no travel history and live in 19 different households in San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa and Lakeside. Those who have tested positive are between the ages of less than 10 and more than 70 years. The median age is 36, the same as the overall average for all COVID-19 cases in the county.
Case trackers are still investigating each situation.
“The fact that these cases have been identified in multiple parts of the region shows that this strain of the virus could be spreading rapidly,” said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer. “People must be very cautious to avoid contracting and spreading COVID-19, especially this variant, which research has shown to be more contagious.”
The variant, which was identified after spreading rapidly in the UK, was first confirmed locally on December 30 in a 30-year-old man. Three more cases were identified the next day. To date, 28 cases have been confirmed with genome sequencing. The county is currently working to confirm four additional cases that are directly related to other already confirmed cases.
County officials have asked all testing labs to submit suspected cases of the new variant for genome sequencing. Local doctors have also been asked to submit positive COVID-19 tests from patients with a travel history to the UK or other places where variants have been detected.
“We are doing our best to determine how fast this new strain is spreading, especially as the number of daily cases in the region has increased dramatically in recent weeks,” Wooten said.
Current science suggests that the vaccines that are currently available will protect against the new emerging variants.
All residents are being encouraged to continue to engage in behaviors known to slow the spread of the virus, such as social distancing, wearing a mask, washing hands, getting tested for symptoms, and staying home while you are sick.
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