New Jersey has recorded its first death due to the highly contagious British variant of COVID-19.
The unidentified resident succumbed to the virus on Wednesday, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli confirmed at a news conference.
The victim had “significant underlying health conditions,” but had no history of international travel. His age was not released.
It is feared that the British variant of coronavirus, known as B 1.1.7 and called “Super-COVID”, is up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the general coronavirus strain.
Six new cases of Super-COVID were confirmed in New Jersey on Wednesday, with a positive age of 10 to 65 years. Only one has recently traveled abroad. The New Jersey Department of Health did not disclose which country the person had traveled to.
There are now at least 329 confirmed cases of Super-COVID in the United States, including at least 92 in California and Florida, respectively.
Initially, the mutation was feared to be more contagious than the common COVID-19 infection. However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week that it is now feared it could also be 30 per cent more deadly.
Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed the same sentiment last Wednesday, saying on NBC’s Today program, “I’m convinced there’s a degree of increase in the severity of the actual infection that we really need to watch out for.”
Earlier this month, a 40-year-old woman in Texas died from the Super-COVID strain a few days after she was admitted to the hospital.
New Jersey has recorded its first death due to the highly contagious British variant of COVID-19. The image shows a patient treated for the disease at a New Jersey hospital earlier this month
New York has confirmed at least 22 cases of the variant, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressed frustration because no more is known about his mortality.
Super-COVID is one of the new coronavirus strains detected in recent weeks.
At least two U.S.-owned variants have been confirmed in Ohio, while another has been detected in Illinois.
Another mutation first detected in Brazil, known as E484K, has also been detected off the coast of the United States. In addition, a variant known as 1452R, first seen in Denmark, is said to account for up to 50 percent of cases in California.
A highly contagious strain from South Africa was first confirmed in the United States on Thursday.
Two people in South Carolina tested positive for the mutation, known as variant B. 1,351, despite not having traveled outside the country. This has sparked fears that the strain is already spreading widely in the community.
“We don’t know exactly what’s going on with the new strains,” Governor Cuomo told reporters during a briefing Wednesday.
“The concept of not knowing is very troubling to me.”
In Paramus, New Jersey, you can see a place to test for coronavirus. Six additional cases of Super-COVID were confirmed in Garden State on Wednesday
It is currently believed that COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Morderna will still be effective in the short term against confirmed mutations in the US.
Scientists are now fighting to invent “booster shots,” amid fears that mutations will end up diminishing the ability of vaccine-induced antibodies to neutralize the coronavirus.
President Biden has temporarily banned flights from South Africa and has again imposed restrictions on those entering the United States from the United Kingdom after Donald Trump promised to lift them from office in the last days.
“I have determined that it is in the interest of the United States to take steps to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of non-citizens of the United States (” non-citizens “) who were physically present within the U.S. Schengen Area (Europe), the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Republic of South Africa during the 14 days prior to their entry or attempted entry into the United States “, said Biden.
In a separate executive order, Biden stated that travelers from all other countries arriving in the United States should be “required to submit evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test prior to entry” and “require them to comply.” other applicable CDC guidelines, including recommended periods of self-quarantine or self-isolation after entry ‘.
Meanwhile, the CDC is now “actively studying” new measures for Americans flying between states, as the number of coronavirus cases remains stubbornly high.
A new proposal states that passengers should take a negative test of COVID-19 before boarding planes flying nationwide.
It comes as the country’s vaccine launch continues to lag behind.
Vaccinations began five weeks ago, but only 6.2% of the U.S. population has obtained the first doses of two-dose vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna. This means that about 20.7 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 3.8 million people have been completely vaccinated.
Since Friday, 25.5 million Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 429,000 have died.
President Biden predicts the death toll will rise to over half a million deaths next month.
Earlier Wednesday, drivers were seen waiting in line at the mega COVID-19 vaccination site that was set up in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.
