A University of Portland employee is the first Oregonian identified with the new and more contagious coronavirus strain that engulfed the UK, university officials announced on Saturday.
The official tested positive this week and has been quarantined since Monday. Twelve of the employee’s close contacts are also quarantined; three were negative and nine others have yet to be tested, but will be, Michael Lewellen, vice president of communications for the university, told The Oregonian / OregonLive.
Full details are still emerging, but the discovery of the most transmissible variant of the virus, known as B.1.1.7, has upset the state and local public health officials who announced the case on Friday. Less than 100 infections of the strain have been identified in the United States, but federal officials fear it may be the dominant form of the virus by March.
The discovery of the infection in Oregon stems from the testing program at the University of Portland, a private institution in North Portland that normally enrolls about 4,250 students.
The university recorded three positive tests out of 565 carried out between January 4 and 10, said Lewellen. Most of the tests were carried out among student-athletes and athletics department officials, although a small part was not, he said.
“Our robust testing protocols detected this infection early and worked as they should,” said Lewellen in a statement announcing the link to the university.
It is not yet clear how the strain was identified. Lewellen said the university learned of this on Friday from public health officials in Multnomah County.
While the test identifies active infections, the determination of the strain of an infection is done through genomic sequencing. It is unclear how many Oregonian tests have been sequenced or what leads to such a review.
Officials from the Oregon Health Authority and Multnomah County did not answer questions on Saturday night.
Although there is no evidence that the strain first identified in the UK causes more serious health problems or is more deadly, it is believed to be more transmissible. This means that it can infect more people and, ultimately, kill more Americans.
Vaccines approved for coronavirus are believed to work just as effectively against the new strain.
The University of Portland official had no known travel history before testing positive, suggesting that the variant is already circulating in the metropolitan area.
Lewellen said the university learned that the employee’s test was positive on Monday and confirmed that the person had had contact with 12 people – no students – before that.
State guidance recommends testing anyone who has close contact with a confirmed or suspected infection. But that guidance is undermined in part because the county’s public health officials are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cases, interrupting their practice of trying to interview everyone with an infection so they can identify and notify nearby contacts to stay home and do the work. test.
Lewellen said the university conducted its own case investigation and contact tracking, notifying each person about “midweek” exposure and recommending that they take the test and take the quarantine test.
Three subsequently reported negative test results. The other nine have not been tested, but Lewellen said the university will help ensure exams for them, if necessary.
The University of Portland is moving forward with plans for about 830 students to move to campus next week after the required tests.
– Brad Schmidt; [email protected]; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt