Colorado state health officials announced Tuesday that they had identified America’s first confirmed case fast diffusion variant COVID-19 first identified in the UK. The strain, which is believed to be more contagious, has been linked to an increase in cases in Britain and has also spread to several other countries around the world.
Colorado officials said the state’s public health lab identified the case in a 20-year-old man who had no “travel history.” Disease control and prevention centers have also been notified of the case, according to state health officials.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware of the Colorado report on the first U.S. case associated with the British variant of COVID-19,” said CDC spokeswoman Belsie Gonzalez. in an email.
“In addition to the case reported in Colorado, we hope there will be additional cases that are likely to be detected in the coming days,” Gonzalez said.
Public and private laboratories across the country have stepped up sequencing efforts to look for the UK variant, called B.1.1.7. UK public health officials have warned it appears to be more transmissible than other strains of COVID-19.
“The fact that Colorado has detected this variant for the first time in the country is a testament to the sophistication of Colorado’s response and the talent of CDPHE’s scientific and laboratory operations,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Department of Colorado Public Health and Environment.
Public health laboratories routinely identify coronavirus variants in patients with COVID-19, although many mutations in the virus do not affect its spread or the symptoms it causes.
Colorado health officials said they were tracking contacts in the individual case, though they added that the individual “was currently isolated” and “so far no close contact has been identified.”
On Monday, the Trump administration imposed a new requirement for UK travelers to test negative for COVID-19 before boarding flights to the United States
U.S. health officials have repeatedly warned that the variant was likely already circulating here, although public health laboratories had not yet identified any cases. Unlike the UK, the US has only sequenced a small percentage of COVID-19 cases, so variants here are likely to escape detection.
When reports of the new UK variant emerged earlier this month, the CDC said only 51,000 of the 17 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. had been sequenced.
Preliminary results released this week by researchers in the UK found that the COVID-19 variant appeared to be more transmissible but not more lethal. It does not appear to lead to more hospitalizations or increase the likelihood of reinfection.
Both Pfizer and Moderna have said they believe their COVID-19 vaccines will also offer protection against B.1.1.7., Saying they have frequently tested their shots against new virus variants.