Florida health officials said on Thursday that they have evidence that the Covid-19 variant first detected in the UK was found in a patient there, making him the third state to report the strain.
As the variant emerges in new states, San Diego County, California officials said the strain, sometimes known as B.1.1.7., Has been identified in three more people in San Diego County, raising the number of confirmed cases there for four.
The Covid-19 variant is believed to be more transmissible, but no more deadly than the strain that started the pandemic, and there is no evidence that vaccines are less effective against it, health officials say.
The variant has been found in other countries, including Canada, where cases have been reported in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec, according to Canada’s director of public health.
Colorado was the first state to announce a confirmed case of the variant, which was found in a member of the National Guard. The case was announced Tuesday. Another member of the guard may also have it, the state epidemiologist said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, when California announced its first case in a San Diego man, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said more cases were likely.
In Florida, the state Department of Health tweeted that the strain was identified in a 20-year-old man in Martin County with no travel history. The county is on the east coast of Florida, south of Port St. Lucie.
The California case announced on Wednesday in San Diego County involved a 30-year-old man, also with no travel history. The three new cases were all men, two in their 40s and one in their 50s, and none of them had contact with each other or in the first case, the county said.
“The discovery of additional cases leads county health officials to believe that the new strain of the virus is widespread in the community,” the county said in a statement.
An increase in Covid-19 cases is threatening to overwhelm California hospitals. On Thursday, San Diego County reported the highest number of new deaths in a single day, 62.
Health officials emphasized that the best way to avoid what is known as the UK variant is the same as for other forms of the coronavirus: washing your hands, staying away from crowds and other people, and wearing a mask.
