Nearly 350 cases of COVID-19 in Hawaii were caused by a variety of the new coronavirus, according to information provided by the state Department of Health on Friday.
Fifteen of the different cases were found on the Big Island.
Dr Edward Desmond, administrator of the Division of State Laboratories, said on Friday during ‘The Weekly Dose’, a live stream presented by the DOH, the variants have been developed since December.
Three have been identified so far in Hawaii.
B.1.1.7, originally found in the United Kingdom, has the N501Y mutation associated with increased transmissibility.
“In places where this virus is introduced, it tends to become dominant because it spreads more easily,” Desmond said.
B.1.351, or the South African variant, has the N501Y mutation associated with increased transmission, as well as the E484K mutation, which are antibodies that a person may have after a vaccination or previous COVID-19 infection, make less effective.
“The antibodies will not work quite as well against this B.1.351 variant, the South African variant,” Desmond said.
‘The good news is that people who have been vaccinated or previously infected, even though the antibodies are less effective, are still not going to get seriously ill. So you do not have to worry about the vaccine not protecting you because of these variants. Get vaccinated anyway. You can get a mild case, but the vaccine prevents serious diseases and you will not go to hospital. ‘
B.1.429, the California variant, has the L452R mutation, which is associated with increased transmission, and antibodies are also ‘slightly less effective’ against this strain.
According to data presented by Desmond, 59% of the virus samples found in March through randomized testing nationwide were the B.1.429 California variant.
“It has become dominant in our state,” he said.
Meanwhile, 8% of the samples were the B.1.1.7 British variant and 2% the B.1.351 South African variant.
Overall, there were 302 cases of the B.1.429 strain, 37 of the B.1.1.7, and seven cases of the B.1.351, for a total of 346 variant cases, according to data from the DOH.
In Hawaii County, ten cases of the California variant and five of the British variant have been identified.
Desmond said a new strain found in India has two worrying mutations, E484Q – which is similar to the E484K mutation – and L452R, both of which are associated with reduced antibody efficacy.
“It is therefore of concern that this double mutant, with two mutations that cause antibodies to be less effective, may respond to the antibodies that result from vaccination or infection,” he said. “We do not know yet. This strain is brand new and has not been studied. But I think the ominous news is shortly after it was reported in India, and also in California. I think we’ve seen what’s happening in California come here pretty quickly. ‘
Desmond said the newly identified strain is something the state will monitor, but health officials are not yet seriously concerned about it. “
The state laboratory regularly performs whole genome sequencing on samples collected from the community to detect and identify variants, “and we are certainly looking for these to see if they come here.”
“And we’re going to see if any laboratory elsewhere in the world has the ability to assess the effect of this double mutant strain to see if it’s more ominous than the one we now know.”
Send an email to Stephanie Salmons at [email protected].