The first case of a COVID-19 variant initially found in the United Kingdom has been confirmed in Massachusetts, health officials said Sunday.
The person, a Boston woman in her twenties, returned to Boston on Jan. 3, where she spent a two-hour layover at Logan International Airport before flying to another state, according to the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC).
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the woman fell ill for a day after returning from a trip to the UK. While she had tested negative for the virus before leaving the UK, the woman tested positive for COVID-19 in early January.
She is currently symptomatic and will remain in the state she flew from Boston, according to the BPHC.
A sample from the woman was tested in an out-of-state lab as part of a process set up by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the potential spread of the variant, officially called B.1.1.7, to health. officials said.
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The variant is believed to be spreading faster than the form of the virus that has been in the U.S., and according to the department, surveillance tests for it are underway in Massachusetts at the State Public Health Laboratory, in collaboration with clinical diagnostic laboratories and academic partners. . of health.
Contact tracers interviewed the woman with the COVID-19 variant and are continuing the interviews now that the variant has been confirmed to cause her illness, officials said.
Efforts to prepare the health care system for further fluctuations in cases are warranted.
-CDC report on COVID-19 strain discovered in UK
This variant, which was first discovered in September and has been incredibly common in the UK ever since, appears to be more transmissible but not more deadly, according to the CDC. But the health department’s page on the variants warns that “an increase in the number of cases will put more pressure on the healthcare system, lead to more hospitalizations and possibly more deaths.”
President-elect Joe Biden announced plans on Friday to overhaul the vaccine distribution program to combat the coronavirus, including administering 100 million doses within the government’s first 100 days.
According to the Department of Health, a total of 88 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant have been identified so far in 14 states. Massachusetts is the second state in New England where it has been detected, after two detected in Connecticut more than a week ago.
But the CDC released a report this week that because the B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 can spread more quickly, it could become the dominant form of the virus in the United States in March.
“Efforts to prepare the health care system for further spikes in cases are warranted. Increased transmissibility also means that higher than expected vaccination coverage must be achieved to achieve the same level of disease control to protect the public compared to less communicable variants,” said the CDC report said.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker had said in early January, after the virus was found in the United States, he expected it to have already arrived in Massachusetts.
Gov. Charlie Baker says the new COVID-19 mutation is most likely already occurring in Mass and explains the state’s timeline for vaccine distribution.
“I think most of us assume it’s here,” Baker said. “There would be no reason not to.”
State officials say public health restrictions in Massachusetts remain the same.
According to health officials and vaccine manufacturers, existing COVID-19 vaccines are believed to be as effective against the new variant as they are against the original form of the virus.
There are also variants other than those discovered in the UK, including those discovered in South Africa and Brazil.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis said on Tuesday that the COVID-19 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom had been detected in Colorado. British scientists believe the variant is more contagious than previous strains of the virus.
The first US case of the variant was discovered in Colorado in December. The arrival of the new variant in Massachusetts comes nearly a year since the first coronavirus patient in the state was identified.
Asher Klein contributed to this report.