San Diego County officials on Tuesday reported a cumulative total of 32 cases of the potentially more contagious new variant of the coronavirus, which also spread rapidly in England.
The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was first identified in a virus sample taken from a San Diego County man in his 30s on December 29 and confirmed a day later and later publicly announced.
Since then, more cases of the variant have been identified, and on Tuesday, authorities announced a further 24 cases confirmed by sequencing the complete genome and four more suspected cases.
Prior to Tuesday, San Diego County had confirmed four cases of the variant. The 24 newly confirmed patients have no travel history and come from 19 different families, but an investigation and contact tracking is underway, according to a statement released by county officials.
The new cases have been identified among residents of San Diego and several suburbs, including Chula Vista, La Mesa and Lakeside. Residents are between 10 and over 70 years old.
San Diego County officials say that no patient infected with the variant died, but a woman was hospitalized. She is now recovering at home.
The variant was also identified in two people from the same house in Big Bear, in San Bernardino County, and was also identified in Colorado and New York.
The variant is believed to be more contagious than the conventional strain of the virus that circulates predominantly in California, but for infected people, it is not believed to present a greater risk of serious illness or death.
Health officials say the guidance on how to deal with this new variant remains the same: stay at home as long as possible, don’t go to meetings, don’t travel, wear a mask all the time when you’re around other people at work or in the supermarket , just exercise alone or with other people in your home, wash your hands every hour and take a break from shopping.
Although LA county officials have not yet documented the presence of the strain there, “having a virus that can infect more people more quickly than we see today” is a “scary thought,” said county public health director Barbara Ferrer.
Dr. Neha Nanda, medical director of infection prevention and antimicrobial administration at USC-Keck Medicine, said on Tuesday that she thinks current COVID-19 vaccines will be able to fight the new variant, based on the immune response. that the body releases after an infection or vaccination.
“This variant is not something that people have to succumb to,” she said.
Times staff writer Colleen Shalby and San Diego Union-Tribune writer Lyndsay Winkley contributed to this report.