Credit: Maryland National Guard via Flickr
According to members of the Minnesota Department of Health, a more contagious variant of the coronavirus is widely transmitted throughout Minnesota.
Variant B.1.1.7, first discovered in the UK, has now been confirmed by genome sequencing in nearly 500 Minnesota natives who tested positive for COVID-19, and is probably just a small piece of the puzzle.
“We have now identified 479 cases of this variant. We have estimated that 50-65% of the Covid-positive specimens tested from 16 to 20 March were B.1.1.7. This is an increase compared to the tested specimens of 10 as of March 15. 38-44% of these specimens were estimated to be B.1.1.7, “Dr. Ruth Lynfield, a state epidemiologist, said during a news conference Tuesday.
Lynfield said there is likely to be a “widespread transmission” of variant B.1.1.7 in Minnesota, adding that B.1.1.7 “is already dominant.”
“We are not identifying all cases of B117, although among those we have identified, approximately 5% have been hospitalized. We will monitor it closely as we expand our sequencing efforts and be able to identify more cases,” he said. said Lynfield.
News of the variant gaining a strong spot comes at a time when Minnesota is making significant progress on the vaccine front. About 25% of Minnesota residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, while about 15% of the state’s 5.6 million population has completed the vaccine series.
Lynfield described the current situation as a “race” between vaccination and the spread of B.1.1.7, which he said has a “higher attack rate,” meaning it can infect more people than SARS. -CoV-2 (the coronavirus that started the pandemic).
“Most Minnesota people are not completely vaccinated. That means we have millions of Minnesota people who are susceptible to COVID-19 infection and health impacts,” Lynfield said.
“A more infectious virus that spreads widely among millions of sensitive Minnesota (some who might be tempted to relax their social distancing, masking, and other precautions) may help fuel a third rise in Covid cases and a corresponding increase of hospitalizations and death “.
The good news is that the vaccine has so far proven to be very effective. Of the nearly 850,000 Minnesota residents who have completed the vaccine series, only 89 have tested positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks after receiving their second shot.
None of the 89 patients who tested positive after completing the vaccine series have died. Vaccines are approximately 95% effective, so it is entirely possible that about five out of every 100 fully vaccinated people are still susceptible.