In a briefing on Friday afternoon, Fresno County Department of Public Health officials reported that the state reported that three people have tested positive for the UK coronavirus variant, or “B.1.1. 7 “, as it is officially known.
“In many ways, it’s like we’re back in the early months of the pandemic,” said Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County Health Officer.
Health department contact tracers have already contacted all people infected with the variant and are working to isolate people they may have come in contact with.
B.1.1.7 is one of the so-called “concern variants” and was found to be 40 to 80 percent more transmissible. It was first detected in the UK, where it spread rapidly and caused a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in the country.
“We don’t know if this is the dominant strain,” Dr. Vohra said. “Without a doubt, that’s the concern: if this becomes a dominant strain, it will create a real setback in terms of our ability to take care of people.”
Health officials said this variant of coronavirus not only spreads more easily than others, but is also more deadly. They acknowledged that all three cases are likely to be “just the tip of the iceberg” and there are likely to be many more cases of these variant strains causing COVID cases in Fresno County.
Dr Vohra said case rates were going down, but said they are now starting to be high, which is partly to blame for the variants.
Health officials said the vaccines will help prevent further spread, but also urge residents to continue to take precautions.
Vohra said, “Don’t give up the guard. We’re still at the ‘purple’ level or spreading the community here in Fresno County compared to the rest of the state. So we still have a lot of infections that are that s ‘reports every day’.
Research is still underway into the effectiveness of each of the vaccines against the UK variant, but experts believe they all help protect people from extreme illness.
County health officials say more than 320,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in Fresno County so far and that 39,000 more doses will arrive next week.
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