Georgia Becomes FIFTH State with Super-COVID as California Reports 32 Cases: Highly Contagious British Species Spreads Fast from Coast to Coast as a Boy, 18, With No Travel History Last Diagnosed
- The new variant is between 50% and 70% more transferable, scientists say
- Georgians will go to the polls on Tuesday to hold high stakes senatorial elections
- The first US beach case was reported in a Colorado nursing home
- It has since been discovered in New York, Florida and California as well
- San Diego reported 32 cases of the variant on Tuesday
- The ‘mutant’ variant of the virus that started to devastate in the UK late last year forced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce a third lockdown on Monday
Georgia announced its first case of the ‘mutant’ COVID-19 strain on Tuesday.
The virus is said to have been found in an 18-year-old boy with no travel history. Georgia joins New York, California, Colorado and Florida in all cases.
The new variant is between 50% and 70% more transferable, scientists say.
Georgians cast high-stakes final votes in elections on Tuesday to determine the balance of power in the new congress, with the senatorial election deciding to shape President-elect Joe Biden’s ability to carry out what could be the most progressive government agenda in generations to be.
The first U.S. case from the beach was reported last week in a remote Colorado nursing home. It has since been discovered elsewhere in the state, as well as in New York, Florida, and California.
San Diego reported 32 cases of the variant on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the US to 37. Wilma Wooten, district public health official, said: “The fact that these cases have been identified in multiple parts of the region shows that this strain of the virus could spread quickly. ‘
The ‘mutant’ variant of the virus that started to devastate in the UK late last year, causing a boom in cases and forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce a third nationwide lockdown on Monday.
The first U.S. case from the beach was reported last week in a remote Colorado nursing home. It has since been discovered elsewhere in the state, as well as in New York, Georgia, Florida, and California, with at least 37 people now infected
The mutated species was picked up the same day voters in Georgia went to the polls. Voters are depicted at the Sara Smith Elementary Polling Station, Buckhead County, on January 5, 2021 in Atlanta during the second Georgia election.
Georgia DPH Commissioner Katheen E. Toomey said, “The emergence of this variant in our state should be a wake-up call for all Georgians.”
In San Diego, 24 newly confirmed people with a virus are said to have no travel history and come from 19 different homes.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was identified on Tuesday the New York patient Monday as a male jeweler worker in Saratoga Springs, who is in his sixties. The man did have COVID-19 symptoms, but is “on the mend.”
He said the state is testing three more possible cases of the strain in Saratoga, taking up to 44 hours to run the genome sequence to detect the variant.
Like the first US case of the variant in Colorado, the man had no recent travel history, suggesting the community was spreading.
The CDC believes the species first showed up in Britain in September and said last week it suspects it has been circulating in the US for a while.
The species is believed to be 50 to 70 percent more transmissible, but no more deadly.
The new variant of the virus in the UK is no more deadly, but is about 50 percent more contagious. This graph from different regions of the UK shows how much more infectious the new super-COVID strain is compared to other virus variants
The Empire State was previously the fourth in the nation to discover the ‘mutant’ variant of the virus.
Cuomo appeared to be back on Tuesday against NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s call to ban all flights from the UK to the US.
The governor called on the federal government to enforce mandatory testing on all international passengers arriving in the US, as they already do with travelers from the UK.
De-Blasio had urged the Trump administration to ‘stop the madness’ and block all travel to and from Britain to help stop the further spread of the new super-infectious British variant of the virus.
In the UK, it is now reported that about one in 50 residents – or about a million people – now has the coronavirus.
In light of the increase, as of Dec. 28, the CDC began to demand that all air passengers arriving from Britain – including US citizens – test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure. Unless a dual citizen or traveling for essential purposes, the majority of Britons are currently prohibited from entering the US.
The UK is also currently grappling with a second mutant strain of the virus, reportedly from South Africa, which experts fear is resistant to vaccines and may be more deadly.
That species has not yet been discovered in the US.
