The United States has registered more than 460 cases of an easier-to-transmit coronavirus variant that was first identified in the United Kingdom late last year. But one state has reported more cases of the B.1.1.7 variant than any other: Florida.
Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that Florida has registered 147 of a total of 467 cases of the B.1.1.7 mutation identified in the country. California follows with 113 cases, while New York is third with 42.
Colorado was the first US state to identify the mutation, and other states quickly followed suit.
The species has been dominant in the UK since mid-December and is thought to be about 50% easier to spread than COVID-19. In addition, British scientists recently said the species may be more deadly.
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Early data suggests that existing coronavirus vaccines will continue to be effective against variants, although a strain first discovered in South Africa has reduced the vaccines’ efficacy.
The variants have sparked concern among infectious disease experts, who are still struggling to help the country take control of COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci, for example, warned late last week that these mutations “have clinical consequences” and should serve as a “wake-up call” that the vaccines currently under development may need modifications to combat new strains.
Fauci’s comments came hours after Johnson & Johnson released a study showing the one-time vaccine was found to be 72% effective in the US against moderate to severe coronavirus, but fell to 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa, where the B.1.351 variant has taken over.
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“What we now know from this study, namely the J&J and the Novavax study, that antigenic variation, that is, mutations leading to a different lineage, has clinical consequences because, as you can see, the long-term effect in the sense of severe disease is still being handled quite well by the vaccines, this is a wake-up call for all of us that we will be dealing with as the virus uses its devices to evade pressure, especially immunological pressure, that we have will continue to see, ” Fauci said during the White House’s coronavirus briefing on Friday.
Fox News Alexandria Hein and Kayla Rivas contributed to this report.