U.S. confirms first case of the new Covid strain discovered in UK

wisdomandjusbir (24)in #life • 4 years ago

The first case of a new and potentially more infectious strain of Covid-19 has been confirmed in the United States, Colorado health officials said Tuesday.

Colorado health officials confirmed the case and notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infected individual is in isolation in Elbert County, about an hour and a half south of Denver. Officials said the man, who is in his 20s, does not have a travel history.

“There is a lot we don’t know about this new Covid-19 variant, but scientists in the United Kingdom are warning the world that it is significantly more contagious. The health and safety of Coloradans is our top priority and we will closely monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis said Tuesday.

“We are working to prevent spread and contain the virus at all levels,” Polis said, adding that public health officials were working to identify other potential cases through contact tracing interviews.

Preliminary analysis of the mutated strain, first identified in the U.K., suggests it may be the culprit behind Britain’s recent spike in cases. The new strain, referred to as SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01 in the science community, could be as much as 70% more transmissible, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

The CDC said in December that the new strain could already be circulating in the U.S. without notice. The CDC cited ongoing travel between the U.K. and the U.S. as an explanation for the potential arrival of the new variant.

Read more: 5 things to know about the new Covid strain spreading in the UK

The discovery of the strain in Britain sparked border closures in European countries like Ireland, France, Belgium and Germany as well as countries outside of the continent.

The Trump administration does not plan to impose Covid-19 screenings for passengers arriving at U.S. airports from the United Kingdom, Reuters reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The British government confirms that another infectious variant of the novel coronavirus identified in South Africa has also emerged in the United Kingdom. The strain from South Africa has not yet been identified in the United States.

President Donald Trump’s coronavirus vaccine czar, Moncef Slaoui, said earlier in December that the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 shots should be effective against new strains.

Colorado identifies first known case of UK coronavirus variant in US

A Colorado man has the variant of the coronavirus from the United Kingdom that health officials say is more transmissable than other strains of the virus, Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday.
It is first known case of the UK coronavirus variant in United States.
The man, who is in his 20s and in isolation in Elbert County, has no travel history, Polis' office said in a news release.
"We will closely monitor this case," Polis said, "as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely."
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The statement said public health officials are working to identify potential contacts and potential cases through contact tracing interviews.
Health authorities from around the world have said the variant does not appear to be more deadly than previously identified Covid-19 strains.
Many countries have banned flights from the United Kingdom. Several airlines recently announced passengers from London to the United States will need a negative coronavirus test.
The variant has been around since September, and US health officials have said in recent days as it became prevalent in the United Kingdom that it is probably is already in the United States.
Public Health England said initial analysis showed that while the variant appears to be more transmissible, there is no evidence it is linked to a higher risk of hospital admission or death.
Record hospitalizations could soon force facilities to ration care
The number of patients hospitalized across the US with Covid-19 is the highest it's ever been -- and at this rate health experts warn some hospitals may have to ration nurses, respirators and care.
The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines
The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines
And in Los Angeles County, where a crush of cases have filled hospitals' intensive care units for days, at least five hospitals have already turned patients away because of oxygen supply issues, officials say.
"The surges and the impact on our ICUs across the country is absolutely devastating. ... This is the nightmare scenario we worked so hard to prevent," Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN on Tuesday about the hospital situation nationwide.
The United States reported 121,235 coronavirus patients in hospitals Monday, the most reported on a given day during the pandemic, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The country's proportion of ICU patients who have coronavirus also has shot up, from 16% in September to 40% last week, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
"When you run out of capacity, physicians and bioethicists in these hospitals will need to decide which patients are salvageable -- potentially salvageable -- and which patients aren't," CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said Monday.
December already has been the country's deadliest month of the pandemic. And with travel increasing over the holidays, health experts anticipate the spread of the virus will increase and send hospitalizations surging further.
In Los Angeles County, problems with supplying oxygen to rooms led at least five hospitals to declare an "internal disaster" Sunday, which included turning an unspecified number of patients away, county health services director Dr. Christina Ghaly said.
Though there were multiple issues, the problem generally wasn't an absolute shortage of oxygen, she said. One issue was that aging infrastructure pumping the oxygen to patient rooms couldn't keep up with the high number of patients needing it.
She didn't immediately identify the hospitals with those issues. Other capacity issues, meanwhile, are plaguing county medical facilities.
A further spike in cases would put Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles in the position of needing to ration care, CEO Dr. Elaine Batchlor said Monday.
"If we continue to see an increase in the number of Covid patients, we may be forced to do something that, as health professionals, we all really just loathe having to even think about," Batchlor told CNN's Brooke Baldwin.

4 years ago in #life by wisdomandjusbir (24)

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U.S. confirms first case of the new Covid strain discovered in UK

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