- Maryland officials said a Baltimore man caught the coronavirus variant that was first found in South Africa.
- The man had not traveled abroad and likely caught the variant locally, the Maryland governor said.
- The mutant variant is more contagious, but it is not considered more deadly.
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The US has identified its third case of the more contagious variant of coronavirus found in South Africa – this time in a Maryland man.
The man, from the Baltimore area, had not traveled outside the country, Governor Larry Hogan said in a statement, meaning it is “likely” that he caught it in the community.
This is the third case of the variant found in the US: South Carolina state officials announced the first two confirmed cases of the variant in the country on Thursday. Neither person had traveled outside of the US and the two cases were unrelated, health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the variant, called B.1.351, can “spread more easily and quickly,” but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. The variant has a mutation on its spike protein, which is what the coronavirus uses to invade human cells.
Read more: Coronavirus variants threaten to disrupt the pandemic’s progress. This is how 4 leading vaccine manufacturers are fighting back.
Hogan said health officials in Maryland were trying to identify and test the man’s contacts, and “were keeping a close eye on the B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the state.”
“We strongly encourage Marylanders to take extra care to minimize the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant. Please continue to follow standard public health and safety precautions, including wearing a mask, washing hands regularly, and taking physical distance . “
The man did not have to go to hospital and is recovering at home, Charles Gischlar, spokesman for Maryland’s health department, told The Washington Post.
Maryland has confirmed 352,726 cases of COVID-19. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, nearly 26 million cases have been confirmed nationwide and the virus has killed more than 435,000 people.
Studies suggest vaccines are effective against the variant
The latest evidence suggests that vaccines work against the variant – albeit slightly less effective than against the original virus.
A study published Wednesday showed that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine worked against a lab-created coronavirus similar to the South African variant. The performance was slightly lower than the original virus, but this would “probably not lead to a significant reduction” in effectiveness, the drug companies said. Moderna announced similar results of a study on Monday.
There is not yet enough data to say whether vaccines against the variant work outside of laboratory conditions.
Some studies have suggested that the variant may be able to evade antibodies produced by the body. Both Pfizer and Moderna, which authorize the two vaccines in the US, are developing new versions of their vaccines to counter the variant.
President Joe Biden has banned travelers from South Africa from entering the US.
The US has also reported cases of mutant variants found in Brazil and the UK. The variant first identified in the UK, B.1.1.7, is the most common of the three variants now confirmed in the US, and experts believe it has been circulating in the US for several weeks.