Experts warn of the dangers when new contagious strains of COVID-19 arrive in South Florida

MIAMI – Almost a year after the coronavirus pandemic and the virus is mutating into several additional contagious strains.

A team of researchers is now focusing on these new variants to curb spread in South Florida.

There are 19 counties in Florida with positive cases of the UK’s most contagious strain of COVID-19, the highest concentration of which can be found in Miami-Dade and Broward.

Researchers are working to track variants and find out more about whether or not the vaccine protects you from them.

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Dr Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at the FIU, said the UK’s most contagious strain is potentially more dangerous.

“Each variant has its own peculiarities and problems,” Dr. Marty. “Difficult scientific data, as well as epidemiological data, suggest that the UK variant is not only more contagious, but also perhaps more serious.”

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Researchers at the University of Miami are finding which mutated versions of COVID-19 are found in South Florida when looking at the Jackson Memorial Hospital patient virus.

The degree of protection of vaccines against the UK strain and other mutations is also part of UM’s research.

Dr. Marty explained that tests show that current vaccines work against the UK variant, but there is new concern about other mutations that already exist in the United States that can infect people who have already had COVID-19 in the past.

“The South African variant and the Brazilian variant already show real problems for people who already had Covid,” Drs. Marty. “These people are not protected at all against the new South African variant every ten times.”

Experts recommend that everyone continue to take precautions and get vaccinated when available and possible.