BOSTON (WHDH) – Nineteen additional cases of the COVID-19 variant originally found in the United Kingdom have been identified in Massachusetts.
The Mass Department of Public Health announced on Sunday that the total number of cases of the B.1.1.7 variant has increased from 10 to 29.
The first case in the United States was identified in late December 2020 and on January 17, 2021 in the Bay State.
Four of the 29 cases have evidence of recent travel, indicating that most of the cases identified in Massachusetts were obtained by the community, the DPD said.
“We should definitely be concerned,” said Dr. Paul Edward Sax, clinical director of the Infectious Disease Clinic of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said. “A smaller amount of this virus could lead to us contracting the disease than with the previous variant that was in circulation.”
Sax says this variant is 30 to 50 percent more contagious than the original strain of COVID-19.
State officials have located 17 cases in Worcester County, one in Hampden County, two in Middlesex County, six in Norfolk County, two in Plymouth County and one in Suffolk County.
People DPH said that people infected by the variant in Massa ranged in age from 4 years to almost 70.
“The disease seems to be quite similar,” Sax said. ‘It also seems that people with this particular variant are on average higher than what we call viral loads, than people who had the previous variant. This probably also explains why it is more contagious to other people. ”
Sax added that it could still be addressed if the new strain causes serious illness.
He says the vaccines Pfizer and Moderna offer the best chance to protect against this strain.
“I’m very happy that the number of cases in Massachusetts is lower,” he said. “They are in the community as well as in the hospital, and we want to keep the trend going.”
The mass DPH continued that the best defense against a rapid increase in cases of worrying variants is to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by wearing masks and practicing social distance.
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