SALT LAKE CITY – The SARS-CoV-2 strain that emerged in the UK late last year arrived in Utah, but has not been a major factor in recent cases, according to new data provided by the Department of Health. state health.
The Utah Department of Health has added breakdowns of three different coronavirus variants to its COVID-19 data board. SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that leads to COVID-19 in humans.
The data show that as of Thursday, there were 33 confirmed cases of B.1.1.7, more commonly known as the “UK variant”. This is only 0.4% of all SARS-CoV-2 cases tested for variants.
Twenty-eight of the variant cases were discovered in Salt Lake County, while two were discovered in Utah County and another two in Summit County. The other variant found comes from a patient in Davis County.
Most cases were collected in early February.
Utah has not yet received any confirmed cases of variants B.1.351 (South Africa) or P.1 (Brazil), which are two of the other major variants that have emerged since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
That doesn’t mean they either haven’t arrived in Utah or are nearby. Wyoming health officials reported earlier this week that they found the first case of the South African variant from a positive case in Teton County in January, according to the Casper Star-Tribune.
Previously, it was revealed that the UK variant had arrived in Utah. The state health department announced the first confirmed case on Jan. 15.
The different variants of the coronavirus have caused concern to public health officials since they were discovered. For example, researchers found that the UK variant spreads faster than the original virus discovered in 2019. Dr. Angela Dunn, a state epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health, said it has caused “more serious illnesses.” younger populations.
Recent studies show mixed, but mostly encouraging, results on COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
A study published in Nature earlier this week found that Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were 10.3 to 12.4 times less effective at containing the South African variant. The good news is that both vaccines showed strong protection against the UK variant.
Another report published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week found that the Pfizer vaccine offered strong protection against variants in Brazil and the United Kingdom. He also found that the vaccine offered “robust but inferior” protection to the South African variant.
That said, experts have noted the success of the vaccine in “real world” environments. According to the Associated Press, the Pfizer vaccine was determined to be 92% effective against serious illness after two shots and 62% effective after one.
Modern also began testing a fit version of its vaccine in humans earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company previously announced that it would modify its vaccine for issues of the South African variant.
While warning that COVID-19 has proven to be “definitely unpredictable” over the past year, Dunn said Thursday that there is still enough evidence to indicate that vaccines work well against different variants.
Dunn added that she was pleased with the speed of Utah’s vaccination efforts in recent weeks. Among vaccines and methods to prevent new cases of COVID-19, there are ways to slow or stop the spread of different variants of the coronavirus.
“It’s so important that when the vaccine is available, you can get it,” he said. “Plus, we know how to protect ourselves from variants, right? Masks work. Physical distancing works. Staying home when you’re sick, everything works. So we keep using these tools until we all get vaccinated.”
“We also have one of the best public health surveillance teams in the country,” Dunn added. “This allows us to monitor the number of varied cases in our state and understand the spread, and then receive this information in real time. This allows you to make the best informed decisions to protect you and your loved one from COVID. “.