Scientists in Los Angeles are trying to determine whether the rapidly spreading strain of the coronavirus that fuels a large increase in cases in the UK is behind a similar rise in California. .
Mutation is up to 70 percent more contagious, but it doesn’t seem to be more lethal.
COVID-19 is out of control in Los Angeles County and elsewhere in California despite locks and other attempts to halt its spread, with the state passing 2 million cases overnight Christmas.
Officials have blamed an increase in holiday and travel gatherings, but are also citing more activities such as shopping as possible reasons for their continued release, and the Mayor of LA Eric Garcetti wonders if the new variant of the virus could be behind the giant. numbers.
“This happened very quickly. Everyone I spoke to said that this acceleration was beyond any model and expectation, so then people say ‘What broke down?’ and I have to think that this was the pressure that was out there, ”Garcetti said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
LA County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said a public health lab is starting to perform gene sequences to test for virus samples collected there, but it will take about a week to get the results.