Health officials say a woman in her 50s, who lives in both Philadelphia and Bucks County, had the British variant.
City health officials asked the lab at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to test this case.
She became ill at the end of December. She was briefly admitted to the hospital and is now recovering. She had contact with someone who became infected after traveling to England.
“I would have been surprised if it were not for Philadelphia and now we know it is, or at least nearby,” said Frederic Bushman, Ph.D., a microbiologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
He and his team tracked down the case. This is the first of the B.1.1.7 variant, the so-called UK variant, in southeastern Pennsylvania.
“The variant has spread nationally and globally,” Bushman said.
In fact, a new report from the CDC warns that it could take over as the predominant variant by March, unless new mitigation measures are taken.
Early research shows that it can spread faster, which can exacerbate the already spiraling pandemic.
Bushman does say that this is no cause for concern. Rather, it is a reminder to do everything in our power to slow down the spread of the virus.
“What works is to wear masks, have social distance, wash hands, avoid crowds. People need to take precautions regularly, and it works against this tension, works against other tribes,” he said.
Included: to get the vaccine if it is available.
Researchers say the vaccine will still work against these variants.
But Bushman says this is something they will monitor with this and other variants of the virus.
This is the second case of the variant occurring in Pennsylvania. In the first case, a Dauphin County patient experienced mild symptoms.
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