Alameda County on Tuesday confirmed or suspected six cases of a new, highly contagious variant of the coronavirus discovered in the UK.
The cases are the first of this variant associated with a specific province in the Bay Area. Stanford scientists last week identified a handful of cases in the region, but declined to say which provinces they came from.
The variant, known as B.1.1.7, has been identified in other parts of the state, mostly in Southern California, and 127 cases were reported in California on Monday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, 541 cases of the variant have been reported in 33 states.
But public health officials say the variant is likely to be much broader and that it has not yet been identified due to lack of testing and genetic sequencing. They expect the numbers to increase as the state and country oversee new variants.
“What is happening now is that laboratories are increasingly making more order than has been done before,” said Dr. Nicholas Moss, the health officer of Alameda County, said. “People have increased the effort.”
Moss noted that the new variants so far do not seem to interfere with the decrease in the number of cases and hospitalizations in the region, as the winter thrust continues to decrease. But he and other public health experts say they are concerned that the variants – those already circulating or others that have not yet emerged or not been identified – could lead to new waves of disease in the coming months. lead.
“Whatever happens with these variants, it has not changed our trajectory for the time being. But it puts us on the basis of what we see in other parts of the world, ‘he said. “We are happy to be in a period where we can reopen things and we are grateful that we have vaccines, but we must be prepared for future increases.”
The six cases in Alameda County are being investigated, Moss said. He has not yet had information on whether anyone has traveled recently, but he believes they are all infected in the community.
He said the province has also identified cases of the variant identified in California earlier this month, known as B.1.429. Alameda County has not yet found cases of the variants identified in South Africa or Brazil, both of which are of concern as it may partially evade the vaccines.
The UK variant is thought to be about 50% more contagious than the original virus and can therefore spread faster and cause more diseases. It can also cause serious illness, although more research is needed.
Moss said he is not surprised to find the B.1.1.7 and B.1.429 variants in Alameda County, given how many cases have been reported in other parts of the state.
” A variant found in any of the larger provinces in California is a good chance that it is already present, ” he said. “Even with travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders, our population is interconnected.”
Erin Allday is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @erinallday