The United States recorded more than 460 cases of an easier-to-transmit coronavirus variant, first identified in the UK last year. But one state reported more cases of variant B.1.1.7 than any other: Florida.
Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that Florida recorded 147 of the total 467 cases of mutation B.1.1.7 that were identified in the country. California is behind with 113 cases, while New York is third with 42.
Colorado was the first US state to identify the mutation with other states by following suit quickly.
The strain has been dominant in the UK since mid-December and is believed to spread around 50% more easily than COVID-19. In addition, UK scientists recently said the strain could be more deadly.
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Initial data suggest that existing coronavirus vaccines will remain effective against the variants, although a strain that was first detected in South Africa has decreased the vaccine’s effectiveness.
The variants caused concern among infectious disease experts who are still struggling to help the country take control of COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci, for example, warned last week that these mutations “have clinical consequences” and should serve as a “warning” that developing vaccines may need adjustments to fight new strains.
Fauci’s comments came hours after Johnson & Johnson released a study indicating that its one-shot vaccine proved 72% effective in the U.S. against moderate to severe coronavirus, but dropped to 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa. South, where variant B.1.351 took over.
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“What we now know about this study, namely the J&J study and Novavax, that the antigenic variation, that is, mutations that lead to different strains, have clinical consequences because, as you can see, even if the long-range effect in the sense of serious illness it is still treated reasonably well by vaccines, this is an alert for all of us that we will be dealing with, as the virus uses its devices to escape the pressure, mainly immunological, that we will continue to see the evolution of mutants “, said Fauci during the coronavirus briefing at the White House on Friday.
Alexandria Hein and Kayla Rivas of Fox News contributed to this report.