Credit: New Jersey National Guard via Flickr
Minnesota is now seeing outbreaks of the British variant of COVID-19 in four counties, health officials announced on Friday.
Minnesota Department of Health Director of Infectious Diseases, Kris Ehresmann, states several cases of B.1.1.7. variants have now been found in Scott County, Blue Earth County and an area of St. Louis County near Aurora in the Iron Range.
This is in addition to Carver County, which has seen dozens of variant cases in recent weeks, the dissemination of which is looking for contacts is linked to youth sports and recreation.
MDH said a 2-day COVID test event will be held at Aurora Community Center on Monday and Tuesday, while selecting Mankato – in Blue Earth County – as the location for its 7th permanent community vaccination site.
Scientists say the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 may be up to 70% more contagious than the most common strain of the virus, and a study has suggested that it is potentially more deadly as well.
The Star Tribune revealed on Sunday how the MDH mapped the outbreak in Carver County, showing how quickly the variant was transmitted by sports teams and schools, revealing that an outbreak of at least 12 infections in a primary school was associated with an individual from one school. sports team with five infections.
Its increase in Minnesota coincided with the state’s COVID-19 cases rising again in recent weeks, having dropped steadily since the peak in late November.
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Hospitalizations have also increased, with 316 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on March 18, an increase of more than 100 at the recent low of 210 on March 6.
This has raised concerns among health officials, who fear another significant increase in cases before most of Minnesota’s population is vaccinated.
Ehresmann described the state as being in a “race between the variants and the vaccine”. Cases of the South African and Brazilian variants have also been confirmed in Minnesota.
All three vaccines currently available in the United States, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are believed to remain effective against the UK variant, although the first results are mixed for the South African and Brazilian variants.