Highly contagious virus variant identified in 3rd County Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A new, more contagious strain of coronavirus has been reported in a third Michigan county for the first time.

Health officials say a confirmed case of a highly contagious COVID-19 variant, known as B117, was reported in Kent County on Sunday, February 7th.

Since Feb. 5, a total of 28 known cases of the variant have been identified in Michigan over the past month, but the cases have only been reported in Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

Announcements

Read: According to officials, 28 cases of variant COVID-19 B117 were confirmed in Washtenaw, Wayne counties

The new case reported Sunday to the opposing side of the state seems to confirm health officials’ belief that there are likely to be more cases of the virus variant in Michigan, but they have not yet been identified.

“Basically it is a race to cover our population; a race that faces vaccination efforts against the transmission of infections, “said Dr. Adam London, director of the Kent County Department of Health.” While we work to minimize the impact of COVID-19 infections , variant B.1.1.7 gives the virus a higher speed “.

Announcements

By nature, a virus, especially an RNA virus like the coronavirus, constantly mutates as it infects people, as it makes copies of it. Sometimes, several individual mutations of the virus can accumulate or occur at the same time, resulting in a new version of the virus that has new features, which is called a variant.

The B117 variant, which was first found in the UK in late 2020, is of particular concern for its increased transmissibility: health experts say the B117 variant is 50% more contagious than the current dominant coronavirus strain. in the US.

Experts warn that variant B117 will likely become the dominant source of COVID infection in the United States by the end of March this year.

Michigan’s first known case of the virus variant was identified Jan. 16 in a woman in Washtenaw County who had just traveled to the United Kingdom.

Announcements

Since then, all variant cases in the state have only been found in Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Washtenaw County officials say all known cases of B117 variants within that county are related to the University of Michigan community.

After the outbreak began varying among the UM community, all college athletics were paused until Feb. 6 and all college students living on or near the Ann Arbor campus were asked to stay. at home until February 7 to help curb the spread of the virus.

Related: The University of Michigan identifies virus outbreaks in off-campus homes

Announcements

To date, three COVID-19 variants, including variant B117, have been identified in the US. On February 7, only variant B117 was discovered in Michigan.

Health experts have previously said that existing therapies and vaccines are still effective against variant B117, but this remains to be determined. Some preliminary research shows that existing vaccines are effective against variant B117, albeit to a lesser degree, but are less effective against other variants such as variant B1351, which was found in South Africa.

Month: Everything we know about virus variants in Michigan, USA

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and more contagious variants, people are advised to continue taking precautions, including social distances, wearing masks, practicing good hygiene, and avoiding crowds and meetings.

Announcements