A new variant of the coronavirus has emerged in the United States. The new version represents yet another public health challenge in a country that already loses more than 3,000 people to COVID-19 every day. The mutant virus was first identified in South Africa before being found in two cases in South Carolina.
Dr. Brannon Traxler, Acting Director of Public Health in the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, says that one case is in the Low Country of South Carolina (a coastal region that includes Charleston) and the other case is in the South Carolina region. Pee Dee (northeast South Carolina).
She says the two patients have no known travel history and there is no known connection between the two cases.
State public health officials say there are almost certainly more infections that have yet to be identified.
They are also concerned that this version will spread more easily and that vaccines may be less effective against it. However, Dr. Traxler says that both patients have been advised to use standard COVID precautions and that both are out of their contagious stage.
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