The worrying South African coronavirus strain, which is more contagious and resistant to some vaccines, appears in California, and the first two cases are residents of the Bay.
Stanford University scientists have identified two cases of the variant, known as the B.1.351 – one in Santa Clara County and one in Alameda County – in tests on Tuesday, Gavin Newsom government said during a news conference in Fresno. It is not clear how the people became infected.
The variant, which was first discovered in South Africa in October, has now been found in more than 30 other countries. It was first detected in January in the United States in South Carolina and has been found in at least four states, although only a handful of cases have been found.
Experts believe that the South African strain is up to 50% more contagious than other variants. According to the American Centers for Disease Control, the South African tribe does not appear to be more deadly.
Its emergence raises concerns about how much protection current vaccines offer against stress. Early research suggests that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do work against it, but that their effectiveness may be somewhat reduced compared to other strains.
Although a vaccine is less potent against the variant, according to clinical subjects, it will still protect people from hospitalization or death. But research suggests that immunity may not last as long or that transmission may not diminish.
“It simply came to our notice then. It is important if these cases represent true community transfer, ”said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, said. “It needs to be investigated intensively.”
Rutherford said that while the coronavirus continues to mutate, California, the U.S. and the world are vaccinating humans as quickly as possible to slow the spread.
“People should avoid getting infected, just like we’re always said,” Rutherford said. ‘If you have a risk factor, if you’m older, or like a supermarket, like the supermarket, I’m definitely going to wear two masks. And get vaccinated when it’s your turn. ”
Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said the person in question in Santa Clara County is an adult who traveled internationally in mid-January, but Cody did not say where. The person showed symptoms after returning and being quarantined for ten days in the house, as required by the rules of the land. The person was not admitted to the hospital and has recovered, she said. Another person living in the household also became ill and was quarantined but not tested.
“The encouraging news from our side is that this person is immediately back in quarantine,” Cody said. “We do not know of any opportunities for further spread in our community.”
Less information has been released about the case in Alameda County. Dr. Alameda County Health Officer Nicholas Moss said the person was “no longer contagious to others” but did not provide any other details.
Both Cody and Moss said COVID cases tend to be general. But they warned that numbers are still above Thanksgiving levels, and that if Bay Area residents fail, there could be another upswing in March or April due to the new, more contagious variants.
“We have to be prepared that if we start moving in the opposite direction, we may have to raise restrictions again,” Moss said.
For now, California is going to make steady progress in the pandemic. A month ago, the state reported nearly 50,000 new COVID cases a day. Now there are 8,400. The number of people hospitalized with COVID nationwide has decreased by 34% compared to two weeks ago, and the cases of ICUs have decreased by 28%.
Major new vaccination centers open at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the Oakland Coliseum, Petco Park in San Diego and other locations. The relatively broad positivity rate, 13.9% two weeks ago, dropped to 4.8%.
“We see progress in every category,” Newsom said, adding that California receives 1 million doses of vaccine a week from the federal government and needs more.
As of Wednesday, 5.1 million Californians have received at least one dose. The state ranks 19th among the 50 states in per capita vaccinations, ahead of most other major states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio. Taking 75% of the people, or 30 million California residents, experts said to bring about herd immunity and end the spread.
Finding virus variants and quickly identifying new mutations is crucial to controlling the pandemic.
The Bay Area cases were found by Stanford’s Clinical Virology Laboratory, which discovered the two cases in 1,708 screened samples. Ben Pinsky, medical director of the lab, said.
Stanford uses a technology called reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR. This display looks for the two mutations that are characteristic of this variant. It also looks for mutations linked to other variants. Their identity was confirmed by whole genome sequence.
“We can expect the virus to adapt and change,” Cody said. “It is therefore important that we continue to do everything in our power to prevent every opportunity from spreading.”
Although the South African variant is only a fraction of the world’s COVID-19 infections, scientists are investigating how to improve vaccines to better target them.
On Tuesday, researchers at the University of Texas reported that the Pfizer vaccine was effective in stopping the South African strain and also another mutation of the virus, called the variant of the United Kingdom. Last month, officials at Moderna announced that their vaccine would be protected against the South African and British variants.
But the South African government halted Sunday’s rollout of a third vaccine, made by AstraZeneca, after early studies found it offered only ‘minimal protection’ against the new variant. Scientists from AstraZeneca say they are updating their vaccine to boost the ability to fight the new strain. The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the United States.
South African health officials said on Wednesday that they would rather start using the vaccination of Johnson & Johnson. Tests have shown that the vaccine, which is still approved in the United States and is expected to get the green light later this month, was 57% effective in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 against the South African variant, and 85% effective in serious illness.