A person from a suburb east of New York City was confirmed as the first New York resident to have been infected with a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said on Sunday.
Few other details were offered about the case, including specifically when it was confirmed or whether the infected individual, a resident of Nassau County on Long Island, had recently traveled. It was not the first case of the South African variant to be found in New York; Cuomo announced last Monday that the variant was detected in a Connecticut man who was hospitalized in New York City.
The variant, known as B.1.351, was originally identified in South Africa in December and has since been found in dozens of other countries and at least nine states, including California, Texas and Virginia. The variant carries mutations that help it cling to human cells more firmly and that can help the virus escape some antibodies.
Its emergence in New York, which authorities have warned is inevitable, highlighted the dangers posed by new variants that may be more infectious or resistant to vaccines, mainly because the state’s vaccination effort continues to be hampered by a limited supply of doses.
“We are in a race now – between our ability to vaccinate and those variants that are actively trying to proliferate – and we will only win that race if we remain smart and disciplined,” Cuomo said in a statement on Sunday.
Two weeks ago, South Africa suspended the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine after evidence emerged that it did not protect participants in a clinical trial from mild or moderate diseases caused by the variant.
South African scientists also said that the immunity acquired by people infected with previous versions of the coronavirus did not appear to protect them from mild or moderate cases when reinfected by the South African variant.
The Food and Drug Administration is working on a plan to update vaccines if the variant increases in the United States.
But Cuomo on Sunday also offered reason for optimism, noting that the rate of positive test results across the state was less than 3 percent for the first time since November. He said hospitalizations also continued to decline across the state.