Health professionals are waiting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the University Of Washington Medical Center on December 15, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by David Ryder / Getty Images)
The new variant strain COVID-19 that has been reported in many states, and in Washington, has now been detected in King County.
On Friday, UW Medicine notified Public Health – Seattle & King County that strain B.1.1.7 of COVID-19 was identified in a test sample from King County. The B.1.1.7 strain was found in neighboring Snohomish and Pierce counties last week.
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This strain is known to spread more easily than others and quickly became the dominant strain in the United Kingdom, where it was first detected. It is now predicted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be the dominant strain in the United States in March.
Although this strain is more contagious, it spreads in the same way as other COVID-19 strains. As health officials have said, this means that we only need to be better at the countermeasures that we know work to limit the spread of the virus, including wearing a mask, physical distance, ensuring good ventilation and staying at home whenever possible.
“This virus has been working. It got faster and more suitable. And we need to fight smarter and harder to beat it, ”said Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle and King County.
“We should expect variant strains to spread here, and that will make the outbreak more difficult to control,” added Duchin. “But we have the advantage of early warning to help us prepare.”
A faster spread means more people are infected, leading to more cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations and more deaths in a shorter period. There is also a concern that a rapid increase in cases may overburden the health system. There is still no conclusive evidence, however, that this variant causes more serious illnesses.
The vaccines developed are expected to still be highly effective against this new strain, but it is still being closely monitored by the scientific community.
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“The emergence of the B117 variant in Washington is an alert,” warns the Public Health Insider’s post about the variant’s arrival in King County. “It is more important than ever to do everything we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – in our homes, workplaces, social lives and wherever we meet – and to reduce cases as low as possible BEFORE the strain B117 can spread widely and gain an advantage. This means that we need to face this new challenge, going from everything to the side where we know it works, starting now. “