The first American case of the United Kingdom strain was discovered last month in Colorado.
“It is a variant that has specific mutations that were described in the UK in mid-December,” said Dr. Ramon Lorenzo Redondo, virologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “He controlled the epidemic only in the UK.”
Governor JB Pritzker gives the latest news on COVID-19 in Illinois
Redondo is part of a team of scientists at Northwestern University that tracked samples of COVID-19. Of 200 recent patients, he said he found one with the UK variant.
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This discovery prompted state officials to warn once again about the need to maintain precautions, as the UK variant is considered more contagious. However, doctors do not believe that it can cause more serious illnesses or be more deadly.
“Early studies show that this variant spreads more easily and quickly,” said Illinois physician Ngozi Ezike. “So if we don’t continue to wear our masks, take care of the distance and avoid meetings, this new variant could spread across the state as well as the UK.”
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“We must remain vigilant if we are to maintain our progress,” added Governor JB Pritzker. “Honestly, it will be up to each of us to keep our schools open and see an economic recovery that restores jobs and businesses. We need to wear a mask to limit interactions with people outside our home and get vaccinated when it’s our turn.”
Redondo said that current vaccines should be effective against the UK variant, but he warns that now is the time to reduce the spread.
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“That is why it is so important to lower the numbers,” he said. “Not because the virus is more serious, but we don’t want to give the virus a better chance of adapting and improving its infection.”
The discovery of the variant in Chicago comes at a time when the global number of deaths from COVID-19 reaches 2 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The milestone was reached just over a year after COVID-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
It took eight months to reach 1 million deaths and less than four months later to reach the next million.
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