At a news conference on Friday afternoon, Fresno County Department of Public Health officials said they were told by the state that three people had tested positive for the UK coronavirus variant, or “B.1.1.7 “as it is officially known.
“In many ways, it is as if we are in the first months of the pandemic again,” said Fresno County Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra.
Health department contact trackers have already contacted all people infected with the variant and are working to isolate people with whom they may have come in contact.
B.1.1.7 is one of the so-called “variants of concern” and was considered 40 to 80 percent more transmissible. It was first detected in the United Kingdom, where it spread rapidly and caused a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in the country.
“We don’t know if this is the dominant strain,” said Vohra. “That is certainly the concern – if it becomes a dominant trend, it will really create a real setback in terms of our ability to care for people.”
Health officials said this variant of the coronavirus not only spreads more easily than others, it is also more deadly. They recognized that the three cases are probably “just the tip of the iceberg,” and there are probably many more cases of these variant strains causing COVID cases in Fresno County.
Dr. Vohra said the case rates are falling, but he said they are now starting to stabilize, which he blames, in part, for the variants.
Health officials said the vaccines will help prevent further spread, but are also asking residents to continue to take precautions.
Vohra said, “Don’t let your guard down. We are still at the ‘purple’ or widespread level of community spread here in Fresno County compared to the rest of the state. So we still have a lot of infections that are being reported every day.”
Research is still ongoing on the effectiveness of each vaccine against the UK variant, but experts believe they all help to protect people from serious illnesses.
County health officials say that so far more than 320,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Fresno County and 39,000 additional doses are expected to arrive next week.
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