The first case of the new variant or strain of COVID-19 has been found in New York State, which was initially detected in the United Kingdom and the one that is considered faster to move and contagious.
The case was found in a Saratoga Springs man in his 60s, who works at N. Fox Jewelers in the city.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the positive result Monday in a conference call with reporters. A contact tracing effort is underway at this time.
Cuomo revealed that the infected man did not travel recently, so it is suggested that the contagion was from someone else in the community.
“The symptoms are not more severe and it seems to be improving,” Cuomo said. “Apparently, it doesn’t make any difference from the point of view of the vaccine, it’s not more deadly but it’s more transmissible, which means a higher positivity rate, higher infection rate, higher hospitalization rate.”
NEW: The Wadsworth Lab has confirmed New York State’s first case of the U.K. variant (B.1.1.7) of the virus that causes COVID.
An individual from Saratoga County, New York, tested positive for the strain. The individual had no known travel history.
The announcement comes at a time when in England precisely, due to the rapid spread of this new variant of Covid, the government on Monday ordered the total closure of establishments and other activities as was done last March – with the exception of activities and essential businesses.
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State health officials are asking that people who visited the store Dec. 18-24 get tested.
“We are reviewing the jewelry employees. Since it was a retail establishment, we want the public’s cooperation,” Cuomo said.
The governor also gave the latest Covid figures for the state and even with the arrival of the vaccine it is clear that Covid continues to do great damage. According to Cuomo’s report, there were 170 deaths from Covid on Sunday alone.
Today’s update on the numbers:
Total COVID hospitalizations are at 8,251.
Of the 134,360 tests reported yesterday, 11,209 were positive (8.34% of total).
Other cases of the COVID-19 variant have been found in at least three other states: Colorado, California and Florida.
The newly discovered variant of the COVID-19 virus has emerged with a large number of mutations and appears to spread more easily and quickly than other variants, the CDC said on its website.
“This variant was first detected in September 2020 and is now highly prevalent in London and South East England,” the information on the CDC website said. “Since then it has been detected in numerous countries around the world, including the United States and Canada.”
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