New York has detected its first case of the coronavirus variant initially found in Brazil, known as P.1, joining at least 18 states that have reported cases of the new variant.
The case, of a Brooklyn resident in his 90s with no travel history, was identified by scientists at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday.
“The detection of the Brazilian variant here in New York further underscores the importance of taking all appropriate measures to continue to protect your health,” said Cuomo in a statement.
“While it is normal for a virus to mutate, the best way to protect yourself is to continue to wear a tight-fitting mask, avoid large crowds, social distance, wash your hands and get vaccinated when it’s your turn,” he said.
Variant P.1 is considered a “worrying variant” because the evidence suggests that it is highly transmissible and has the potential to reinfect people who have already been ill. Variant P.1 was first identified in January, during an airport screening in Japan of travelers from Brazil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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After a severe outbreak last spring, antibody tests at blood banks in Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, suggested that three-quarters of the city’s population had been infected. Scientists thought that Manaus could have achieved herd immunity, but then infections increased again in late 2020, leading scientists to believe that the P.1 variant could reinfect people who have recovered from infections caused by other variants.
“Finding him in New York is not that unexpected,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety, about the P.1 variant.
As the first case detected in New York was an older resident with no travel history, there is “clearly a transmission chain going on in New York City,” he added.
The United States is doing very little sequencing of virus variants, so it is difficult to know the prevalence of P.1 in the country. Another variant, B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the UK, appears to be replacing the others, said Adalja.
“In countries where B.1.1.7 becomes dominant, it seems difficult to replace,” he said.
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Although research is still ongoing to see whether the COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the P.1 variant, the vaccines appear to be effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death because of that, explained Adalja.
“While there is concern and concern for the variants, the answer is always the same,” he said. “Get vaccinated faster.”
As of Sunday, the state of New York had vaccinated 38,671 residents per 100,000 people, according to the CDC.
What to know about the virus variant found in Brazil originally appeared on abcnews.go.com