Health officials in California on Sunday warned against a separate coronavirus variant, known as L452R, which has been on the rise across the country since November.
It is too early to say whether the strain is more transmissible than others, including the highly contagious variant first identified in the UK, Dr Erica Pan, state epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health, said in a statement. . Nevertheless, officials are appealing to the public to wear masks, avoid associating with non-household members and isolate after exposure.
Like the British variant, created B.1.1.7, the L452R variant involves several mutations on the surface vein protein, which the virus uses to infect cells. Scientists believe that the recently approved vaccines are effective against the British variant, although research continues on the impact that a separate variant has been identified in South Africa.
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The variation strain contains three mutations on the surface vein proteins of the virus. (iStock)
The L452R variant was first found early in the pandemic in Denmark and was found everywhere, including in California, said Dr. Charles Chiu, virologist and professor of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said on a call to reporters on Sunday. the San Francisco Chronicle. Chiu said the variant was found in about 4% of the samples in December and that by the beginning of January it had jumped to 25% of the samples.
“The data so far is very preliminary, but it basically raises concerns that there could be an impact on the vaccine,” Chiu said.
The variant has been appearing faster at laboratories in California since November, along with greater surveillance, and has been found in major outbreaks in Santa Clara County, according to the state Department of Health.
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The San Francisco Chronicle also reported that dr. Sara Cody, a public health officer in Santa Clara County, said the variant was found in an outbreak among employees of Kaiser Permanente in San Jose, which made headlines after dozens of cases and one death was linked to an inflatable costume that Christmas worn by a staff. The outbreak has since increased to more than 90 infections among staff.
Cody told the point of sale that officials are trying to understand whether the variant could explain the enormous extent of the hospital’s outbreak.
“That’s the question of the day,” Cody said.
A spokesman for Kaiser Permanente wrote to Fox News on Monday morning, confirming that the L452R variant had been detected in the hospital’s outbreak.
“We can confirm that the L452R COVID-19 variant was found in some results related to the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the San Jose emergency department,” the email said. “While this information will help the epidemiological inquiry into the outbreak and advance important scientific research, it does not immediately affect our patients or staff, whose health and safety remains our top priority. Staff and patients tested positive for COVID-19 as a result of this outbreak is now past their infectious period and symptom-free. ‘
Fox News has requested additional comments from the Department of Public Health in Santa Clara.
“In addition to Santa Clara County, the 452R variant has been detected in the counties of Humboldt, Lake, Los Angeles, Mono, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, San Bernardino, San Diego and San Luis Obispo,” the state health department said in a statement. . “Because genomic sequencing is not done evenly across the state or country, it is too early to know how common the 452 variant is nationwide, nationally, or globally.”
Data from the state show a sharp increase in daily new infections in Santa Clara County in late November, reflecting nationwide trends. The positive percentage worldwide also rose from about 3% in early November to now more than 12%.
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“Now that we know that this variant is increasing in our local communities, we are prioritizing it for study,” Chiu said. “Researchers at UCSF and elsewhere will now be able to perform the critical laboratory experiments to determine if this virus is more contagious or affects vaccine performance.”
The news coincides with reports that Los Angeles County has surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic over the weekend and reported the first case of the more contagious British variant.
Although California was one of the most stringent states in the country in implementing closures, it has continued to see an increase in cases over the past two weeks, averaging more than 41,000 new coronavirus cases each day.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this article.