The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed the first cases in the United States of B1.351, a variant of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa, South Carolina.
In other US news, CDC experts discuss a rare COVID-related syndrome in children, a Johns Hopkins specialist highlights the shortage of oxygen in the hospital and Novavax reports good results for its vaccine.
Variant virus in South Carolina
According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), the variant was detected in two people with no known travel history and no contact with each other.
“The arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in our state is an important reminder to all Southern Carolinians that the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” said Brannon Traxler, MD, DHEC Acting Director of Public Health . “Although more COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited.”
The CDC said today that it is too early to understand the implications of the variants now being identified around the world. “At the moment, we have no evidence that infections with this variant cause more serious illnesses,” said the agency. “Like the UK and Brazil variants, preliminary data suggests that this variant may spread more easily and quickly than other variants.”
Existing vaccines must offer at least some level of protection against variants. Earlier this week, Minnesota reported the first case in the United States of the P.1 variant (known as the Brazilian variant) in someone who had recently traveled to that country. And more than 26 states have reported more than 300 cases of B117, a variant first detected in the UK in December.
Because of these variants, the CDC enacted strict travel regulations this week. “The CDC recommends that people avoid traveling at this time. However, for those who need to travel, additional measures have been put in place to increase security; especially as the COVID-19 variants have spread across the world, ”said the CDC. “Beginning January 26, all air passengers flying to the United States must provide a negative test result or recovery documentation to the airline before boarding a flight to the United States.”
The U.S. reported 152,478 new COVID-19 cases yesterday and 3,943 deaths, according to online tracker Johns Hopkins. There are 107,444 COVID-19 patients in US hospitals, according to the COVID Screening Project.
In total, the United States had 25,708,124 COVID-19 cases, including 431,882 deaths.
CDC: Link between variants, obscure MIS-C
In related news, CDC officials told reporters this week that it is unclear whether variant strains of the virus are more likely to cause multisystemic inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children, a rare but serious complication of COVID-19 infection. .
The CDC reports that, by the end of December, there were reports of 1,659 cases of MIS-C in the United States, among 2.68 million pediatric infections, as tracked by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
MIS-C usually occurs at least 3 weeks after a child has been infected with COVID-19 and can occur after asymptomatic infections.
Expert warns of national oxygen supply
Eric Toner, MD, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, has issued a warning about the impending medical oxygen scarcity crisis facing many U.S. hospitals in cities with COVID-19 hospitalization ‘crisis’ levels.
California, Texas and New York reported lack of wall oxygen or portable oxygen at various points during the pandemic. Toner explained that high-flow oxygen therapy, which uses about 5 to 10 times the oxygen from the mechanical ventilator, has become one of the preferred standardized treatments for COVID-19 patients, but oxygen tubes in many older hospitals are unable to accommodate increased flow demands.
Toner offered several solutions to increase the oxygen supply, including determining whether the Defense Production Act could help increase production quickly.
COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined since January 12, when they were 131,326, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the COVID Tracking Project data.
The Novavax vaccine is effective against variants
Finally, today, Novavax, a Maryland-based vaccine manufacturer, announced that its candidate vaccine COVID-19 (NVX-CoV2373) was 89.3% effective in preventing disease in a UK-based phase 3 study, where more than 50% of the observed cases were attributable to variant B117.
The company also announced the results of a phase 2b study in South Africa, where the vaccine proved to be 60% effective in preventing mild, moderate and severe infections, when 90% of cases were attributed to variant B1.351.
“NVX-CoV2373 is the first vaccine to demonstrate not only high clinical efficacy against COVID-19, but also significant clinical efficacy against emerging variants in the UK and South Africa,” said Stanley C. Erck, president and chief executive officer of Novavax said in a press release.
Novavax said the company plans to immediately begin clinical development of a vaccine specifically targeting B1.351. Some countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have already purchased millions of doses of the vaccine from the company.