Florida continues to outperform the rest of the country with new mutant COVID-19 cases

ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida continues to lead the country in the number of documented cases of the COVID-19 variant linked to the UK, with almost 380 cases of variant B.1.1.7, according to the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Now with 379 documented cases, the State of the Sun has twice as many variant cases in the United Kingdom as California, which had 189 on Sunday night, according to the CDC database. Texas has 49 cases, Illinois and North Carolina have 23 cases each and Maryland has documented 22.

The number of mutant cases is expected to grow as more laboratories are brought in to sequence virus samples and track variants.

Florida has tripled the number of UK variants in less than a month. Three weeks ago, Florida had reported 125 cases of variants in the United Kingdom.

The CDC updates its database of variants three days a week at 7 pm, however, the agency says it probably does not include all the data.

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“The cases identified above are based on a sample of SARS-CoV-2 positive samples and do not represent the total number of cases of lineage B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1 that may be circulating in the United States and may not correspond to the numbers reported by states, territories, tribes and local authorities, ”says a notice under the map.

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Variants of the virus first detected in Brazil, P.1, and in South Africa, B.1.351, have also been reported in the United States, but in far fewer numbers. Only 16 cases of the Brazilian variant have been documented and, to date, only three cases of the South African variant have been reported in the USA.

The British variant is more contagious and is believed to be more deadly than the original, while South Africa’s may make vaccines a little less effective. The final fear is that a variant resistant to existing vaccines and treatments may eventually emerge.

However, the true dimensions of the problem in the USA are not clear because of the relatively low level of sequencing.

The mutant cases have probably been here all the time and multiplying, but the CDC started identifying and tracking the variants last year. The CDC has been racing to detect the variants after falling behind.

Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples, watching closely for mutations that can make the coronavirus more infectious or more deadly.

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Less than 1% of positive samples in the USA are being sequenced to determine whether they have worrying mutations. Other countries do better – Britain sequences about 10% – which means they can see threats reaching them more quickly. This gives them more opportunity to slow down or stop the problem, whether through more targeted contact tracking, possible adjustments to the vaccine or public warnings.

After the slow start, public health laboratories in at least 33 states are now carrying out genetic analyzes to identify emerging variants of the coronavirus. Other states have entered into partnerships with universities or private laboratories to do the job. North Dakota, which began sequencing in early February, was the most recent to begin this work, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

The CDC believes that a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 samples should be analyzed weekly in the United States to properly monitor the variants, said Gregory Armstrong, who oversees the agency’s advanced molecular detection work. And only now is the nation reaching that level, he acknowledged.

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President Joe Biden, who inherited the configuration of the Trump administration, is proposing a $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package that calls for increased federal spending on virus sequencing, although the figure has not been detailed and other details have yet to be worked out.

“We are in 43rd place in the world in genomic sequencing. Totally unacceptable, ”said White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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