BOSTON (CBS) – A 20-year-old man from Worcester County is the second person in Massachusetts to be diagnosed with the British COVID-19 variant, the Department of Public Health confirmed on Wednesday.
The British variant, also known as B.1.1.7., Spreads faster than other variants. It is thought to be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original strain, but the CDC says there is no evidence that it is more deadly.
“It can infect more cells in someone’s nose or in someone’s mouth, and because it infects more cells, more viruses are produced,” said Dr. Richard Ellison of UMass Memorial Medical Center told WBZ-TV earlier this week.
The first case of this variant in Massachusetts was reported on Sunday, January 17th. A Boston woman in her twenties traveled to the UK and felt ill the day after she returned. She tested negative for COVID before leaving the UK.
According to the CDC, there are now at least 122 cases of the variant in the US.