California finds first cases of coronavirus variants from South Africa

• California is the latest state to report cases of the more transmissible coronavirus variant in South Africa
• The variant, first identified in October, has been found in at least four U.S. states.
• The variant appears to partially evade the immunity obtained in response to vaccines or infection with the original virus.
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Once South African scientists detected a more contagious coronavirus variant in early October, scientists knew it was only a matter of time before the strain would reach the US.

At the end of January, the US reported its first two cases of the new variant, called B.1.351, in South Carolina.

California on Wednesday became the youngest state to file its own B.1.351 cases. At a news conference, Governor Gavin Newsom said Stanford University had located two cases in the San Francisco Bay Area: one in Alameda County and another in Santa Clara County. He did not provide further details.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also identified six cases of B.1.351 in Maryland and one in Virginia.

The variant does not spread as widely as B.1.1.7, another infectious strain first identified in the UK in September. The CDC has so far reported more than 930 cases of B.1.1.7 in 34 states.

Coronavirus vaccines still appear to be very effective against B.1.1.7, but scientists are more concerned about B.1.351 because preliminary research has found that it may partially evade the protection offered by current vaccines.

For example, Moderna exposed blood samples from people who received the company’s vaccine to B.1.351. They found that samples developed six times less virus-neutralizing antibodies than samples exposed to other variants. The company is now investigating the possibility of a booster shot customized to neutralize B.1.351.

Scientists are also concerned that people who already had COVID-19 may be re-infected with this more transmissible strain.

A race to stop B.1.351 from spreading

The US genetic sequence is only 0.01% of its cases of coronavirus – about three out of every 1000 cases. It ranks the country 33rd in the world for genetic sequencing, according to the latest data from GISAID, a global database collecting coronavirus genomes.

This lack of sequence means that new variants can easily spread unnoticed in the population. In all likelihood, B.1.351 entered the U.S. long before South Carolina reported its first cases. None of the people had traveled recently, nor was there any personal connection between them.

Even people who have previously received COVID-19 may be susceptible. A recent study by Novavax’s vaccine candidate found that cases of B.1.351 were just as common among people who had previously recovered from infections with other strains than those who had not.

“If it becomes predominant, the experience of our colleagues in South Africa indicates that even if you are infected with the original virus, there is a very high percentage of reinfection,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN last week.

The possibility, coupled with the increased transmissibility of B.1.351, could lead to a further increase in coronavirus cases, scientists warn. However, the variant does not look more deadly than the original strain.

“If there are more contagious variants in circulation and people now feel free to do things they could not do for a while, we run the risk that there will be another boom in the near future,” says Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology at the Fielding of UCLA’s School of Public Health, recently told Insider. “So we have to keep a close eye on it.”

For the time being, scientists hope that vaccinations and other social health measures will be sufficient to prevent B.1.351 from becoming the dominant tribe in the US. They add that more genetic sequencing may prevent future variants from spreading.

“We need to find ways to counter this, as opposed to constantly chasing without good supervision,” Rimoin said. Otherwise, she added, “We are destined to make the same mistakes.”