SAINT BERNARDINO, California. – The first confirmed case of the coronavirus P.1 variant in California, commonly known as the ‘Brazilian’ variant, was detected in a resident of San Bernardino.
The California Department of Public Health alerted the county to the case on March 13, after it was found in a positive sample collected on March 2.
Health officials say the variant was detected by Fulgent Genetics. The resident who contracted the virus is considered a man in his 40s.
Authorities said on March 3 that he reported experiencing the symptoms and was isolating himself at home. The county is investigating how the resident may have been exposed to the variant.
“We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to contact screening and contain the virus and work with CDPH to expand the entire genomic sequencing to identify more cases,” said county health officer, Dr. Michael S. Sequeira.
“Slowing the spread of the disease and minimizing the spread of all variants is possible with contact tracking, strategic quarantine with masking and social distance and, most importantly, vaccination.”
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Variant P.1, discovered in Brazil in January, is believed to be more contagious than the most common strain of the virus. However, there is no evidence that the variant leads to more severe cases of COVID-19.
According to doctors, it is not clear whether the variant is more resistant to vaccines.
San Bernardino County changes to the red layer
From Sunday, March 14, people can eat indoors again. San Bernardino County has officially entered the red state level, allowing indoor meals to be resumed, along with indoor use in gyms and various other businesses.
“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested in Brazil, where it showed 0% mortality and 85% success rate in preventing hospitalizations and serious infections,” said Sequeira.
The individual who contracted the virus has not yet been vaccinated.
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This is because San Bernardino County has entered the less restrictive red level in the state’s “Project for a Safer Economy”. This allows resuming meals indoors, as well as internal services for gyms, gyms, cinemas and several other companies that can reopen with limited capacity.
But even if things seem to be returning to ‘normal’, county health officials insist on continuing to wear masks, maintaining social distance and avoiding contact with people outside their homes, and getting vaccinated as soon as possible.
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