The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appears to be increasing the submissions required by the COVID-19 sample states in an attempt to expand surveillance for mutant variants.
The proposed guidance comes amid harsh criticism of the country’s poor surveillance system and as the initial cases of the most contagious strain, known as B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, emerge in the United States
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For its part, the CDC is “monitoring the situation closely”.
“The CDC is working with state public health, academic and commercial laboratories to increase the capacity for surveillance of domestic strains to sequence thousands of samples every week,” according to a statement sent to Fox News. “This expands our ability to detect and characterize emerging viral variants in the United States.”
“In GISAID (a global database), there are currently 68,000 strings from the United States. About 13,000 U.S. SARS-CoV-2 strings were submitted to GISAID in December 2020,” added the federal agency. “At the moment, the United States is sequencing about 3,000 samples per week. The CDC expects about 3,500 additional samples per week from commercial laboratories in the coming days”
The mutated strain first identified in the UK, and another in South Africa, both involve mutations along the virus’s peak proteins. (iStock)
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States send at least 10 biweekly samples to the federal health agency through the CDC’s National Strain Surveillance program SARS-CoV-2 (NS3), although some states do not reach this mark. New York, for example, sends five samples every two weeks through the state’s public health laboratory, the Wadsworth Center, a spokesman said.
While some states have told Fox News that the proposed guidance for increasing the required samples is still in draft phase, yet to be made public, a North Dakota Department of Health spokesman has released that biweekly samples will increase in the next month based on population.
“Ten COVID-19 samples are sent to CDC every fortnight for further sequencing and characterization. In February, it will increase to 17 COVID-19 samples,” wrote Nicole Peske, communications director for the North Dakota Department of Health, in an e- mail to Fox News. “The CDC dictates what each state sends to them. Originally, they wanted 10 from each state, but in February it is changing based on population.”
A Minnesota Department of Health spokesman echoed the increase in samples needed.
“The Public Health Laboratory MN has sent 10 positive SARS-CoV-2 samples every two weeks to the CDC as part of the National SARS-CoV-2 Strain Surveillance program (NS3) and will increase that number to 25 as requested. by the CDC, “Doug Schultz, offering information to the Minnesota Department of Health, wrote in a statement. “Guidance on how to increase the NS3 program is still in draft form and has not yet been made public.”
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While Minnesota health officials identified five cases of the UK variant over the weekend, Schultz said these samples will be sent to the agency this week for “further characterization of the virus”.
And health officials in Texas – who have only one reported case of the variant, according to the CDC count, which probably does not reflect the true total circulating in the U.S. – confirmed that the CDC actually proposed expanding the required samples. But as of Monday afternoon, they had not received a formal request to do so.
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“Texas [Department of State Health Services] currently sends 10 positive samples to the CDC every two weeks for sequencing and culture of the virus, “Douglas Loveday, a spokesman for the state health agency, told Fox News.” The CDC proposed to increase the number of samples sent from state and local public health laboratories; however, at this time we have not received an official request to send more than we are currently sending. “
Fox News solicited comments from other state health departments on the matter.
California, for example, carries the weight of the most reported variant cases in 32 of the more than 70 cases in 10 states, according to the CDC.
A more contagious coronavirus strain highlights the need for mitigation measures, such as wearing a mask, hand hygiene and social distance, experts say. (iStock)
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The mutant coronavirus strain first identified in the United Kingdom is believed to spread between 50% to 70% more easily, but is not considered more virulent or avoids recently approved coronavirus vaccines. Since the strain is able to spread more easily, health officials urged the public to reduce mitigation measures, such as wearing masks, washing hands and keeping a safe distance from others.
A more contagious strain threatens to overburden already overburdened hospitals and ultimately result in additional deaths from the new pathogen that is already linked to 376,000 deaths in the United States alone.