Medical staff will examine a patient suffering from coronavirus in a COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at United Memory Medical Center on November 16, 2020 in Houston, Texas.
Rach Nakamura | Getty Images
Texas public health officials announced Thursday that they have first identified the state’s first case of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus found in the United Kingdom.
The patient, a man between the ages of 30 and 40 with no recent travel history, was found in Harris County, home of Houston, the county public health department said in a statement. The man was alone and in a stable condition, and local infectious disease experts are searching for all of his connectors to find and monitor others who may be exposed to his virus.
The variant appears to be already circulating in Texas, as the man had no prior travel history, Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas State Department of Health Services, said in a statement. He said genetic changes in viruses are “the norm,” and it’s no surprise that the variant was found in Texas considering how fast it spreads.
“This should give us all our commitment to the infection prevention practices we know to work: hiding whenever you are around people you don’t live with, social distance, and hygiene personal and environmental, “Hellerstedt said.
Shortly after Texas officials announced their first case, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said in a tweet that his state identified two Covid-19 cases with the new variant, called B.1.1.7, in people between the ages of 15 and 25. Both of them had a travel history. those patients out of state – one to Ireland and the other to New York state, Lamont said.
“As we said last week, given the speed of this new strain of the virus and how it has been identified in several states across the country, we accept that it already was in our state and this information this morning confirms that fact, “the governor said in a tweet.
The strain, which has also been found in California, Georgia, New York, Florida and Colorado, is thought to be more potent but does not appear to make people sicker or increase the risk of death from Covid-19, experts have said. Earlier on Thursday, Pennsylvania health authorities said they had marked their state’s first case with the new variant.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s chief elected officer, said in a tweet Thursday that the discovery of the variable in the area is “worrying” because the rapid release is already there.
On Thursday, the county remained in its toughest threat level, “level one,” which means there is pressure on verification and communication efforts and an “outbreak” is present or imminent. get worse, “according to the county ‘s website.
When the county is at this stage, residents are advised to leave their homes for essential reasons and minimize contact with others where possible.
Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said the routine vaccines should work against the new variant, although more hospitalizations could occur if it is allowed to release without examination. Federal health officials are also on the lookout for a new individual strain, which was first identified in South Africa.
The CDC does not yet know how widespread the new B.1.1.7 variant is in the United States. The group is now asking all passengers traveling to the United States from the United Kingdom to provide proof, before boarding, of a negative Covid-19 test that has not been tested. take more than three days to leave.
– CNBC’s Feuer will he contributed to this report.