Colorado state health officials announced Tuesday that they have confirmed America’s first confirmed case of a fast-spreading COVID-19 variant first identified in the UK. The tension, which is believed to be more contagious, is linked to an increase in cases in Britain and has also spread to several other countries around the world.
Colorado officials said the case was identified by the state’s public health lab in a man in his 20s with no travel history. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also been notified of the case, according to state health officials.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware of the Colorado report on the first U.S. case related to the British variant of COVID-19,” CDC spokeswoman Belsie González said in an email said.
“In addition to the case reported in Colorado, we expect that there will be additional cases that are likely to be detected in the coming days,” González said.
Public and private laboratories across the country have made successive efforts to search for the British variant, called B.1.1.7. Public health officials in the UK have warned that it looks more transmissible than other strains of COVID-19.
“The fact that Colorado first detected this variant in the country is proof of the sophistication of Colorado’s response and the talent of CDPHE’s scientific and laboratory operations,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Administration. health and environment, said.
Public health laboratories frequently identify coronavirus variants in COVID-19 patients, although many mutations in the virus do not affect how it spreads or the symptoms that cause it.
Colorado health officials said they are locating contact of the individual case, although they added that the individual is “currently in isolation” and that there are no close contacts so far.
On Monday, the Trump administration imposed a new requirement for UK travelers to test COVID-19 negatively before climbing to the US
US health officials have repeatedly warned that the variant is likely already in circulation here, although public health laboratories have not yet had to identify any cases. Unlike the UK, the US has only followed up a small percentage of COVID-19 cases, so variants here are unlikely to escape detection.
As reports of the new UK variant surfaced earlier this month, the CDC said only 51,000 of the 17 million cases of COVID-19 in the US had been followed up.
Preliminary results published this week by researchers in the UK have found that the COVID-19 variant appears to be more transmissible, but not more lethal. It also does not look like more hospitalizations, nor the chance of re-infection.
Both Pfizer and Moderna said they believe their COVID-19 vaccines will also provide protection against B.1.1.7. They say they have regularly tested their shots against new virus variants.