Washington state health officials confirmed the state’s first case of a worrisome coronavirus variant, first identified in Brazil last year.
The variant, scientifically known as P.1., Was confirmed by the UW Medicine Virology Lab, which identified the mutation in a COVID-19 test sample from King County, according to a press release from Public Health – Seattle & King County .
The P.1 variant is worrying because it contains a number of mutations, “including those that appear to make it less vulnerable to our bodies’ immune responses,” officials said. COVID-19 vaccines are also considered less effective against some variants, including the Brazilian one.
“If we let our guard down, these variant strains will make us pay,” said Jeff Duchin, health officer, Public Health – Seattle and King County, in a statement. “The advantage is that we can take measures to limit the damage. The same precautions that have helped us to decrease the number of cases in the past can also protect us from variants, as long as we are diligent.”
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The Brazilian variant was first identified in the United States in late January. It is believed to have originated in Manaus, a city in the northwest of the Amazon, where researchers say it probably circulated in December. The strain includes three mutations, E484K, K417T and N501Y, similar to a separate variant initially detected in South Africa.
Three variants of COVID-19, including the variant first identified in the United Kingdom and the variant first identified in South Africa, have now been detected in the state of Washington.
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“The appearance of these variants should not discourage us – they should invigorate us and motivate us to turn the tide in the pandemic. The next one or two months will be especially important in determining the course of our outbreak, with the threat of new VOCs increasing as we go. we work to protect more people through vaccination, “Washington state health officials said in a press release. “If we continue with efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 for a few more months, we will reduce the risk of another serious wave of infections and accelerate our return to a more normal life.”
Fox News’ Kayla Rivas and the Associated Press contributed to this report.