Jewelry store employee is first in New York to test positive for highly contagious version
An employee at a Saratoga Springs jeweler has tested positive for the highly contagious variant of coronavirus that is engulfing the United Kingdom, marking the first time the variant has been found in New York.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday afternoon announced the Wadsworth Lab in Albany had detected the U.K. variant of the virus, known as B.1.1.7, in the 67-year-old Saratoga County man.
The man, whom Cuomo did not identify, as well as three other employees of N. Fox Jewelers, at 404 Broadway in Saratoga Springs, all tested positive for coronavirus. However, it is unknown whether the other employees contracted the more transmissable variant; Cuomo said officials are waiting on the results of the other employees’ tests to answer that question.
The owners of the store, Harvey and Cassie Fox, could not be
immediately reached for comment Monday.
The man had not recently traveled out of the country and health experts believe he contracted the variant strain through community spread. Indeed, Cuomo speculated Monday that the more contagious variant could be the cause of the recent spike in COVID -19 cases across the state.
“I think it is more widespread than people know,” the governor said. State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker echoed those sentiments when asked whether the variant could be the cause of COVID -19 cases climbing in the Capital Region.
“The feeling is that it is likely that this increase in the number of cases both in Europe and across the country is probably reflective that there is a variant around that is more transmissible,” Zucker said during a Monday afternoon conference call with reporters.
In a follow-up interview with the Times Union, Zucker said it’s likely the variant detected in the Saratoga Springs jeweler is not the first case in New York, although it is the first time there has been a confirmed case. He said the state is increasing its testing for the variant strain, which is not more lethal than standard COVID -19.
“The virus doesn’t cause more severity of illness; it’s just more transmissible. But that is concerning, because you end up with an additional number of cases,” Zucker said. “It has a higher viral penetration to cells and it has a lower infectious dose. You don’t need as much to get the illness.”
Zucker said the state’s strategy will not be altered and that getting residents vaccinated is still integral to conquering the coronavirus.
“The way out of this pandemic is having enough immunity so that a virus basically can’t last in the community and can’t jump from one person to another. The way to do that is to get people immunized,” he said.
The state lab has begun randomly looking for the U.K. variant in coronavirus test samples being sent there from hospitals across the state.
The jeweler’s test was among “several dozen samples” that Zucker said were sent to the Wadsworth Lab by Saratoga Hospital. A typical COVID -19 test does not reveal whether a person is infected with the U.K. variant; that requires a separate genome test, the commissioner added. As a result of the jeweler’s infection, the state will do additional testing for the variant strain in Saratoga County.
“He picked it up somewhere, right?” Zucker said, noting the jeweler had not recently traveled.
The jewelry store has been closed since Dec. 24, and the governor asked that anyone who may have visited the retail establishment between Dec. 18 and 24 contact the Health Department and be tested immediately.
“It’s about contact tracing,” Cuomo said. “This U.K. strain is reported to be 70 percent more contagious.”
The state will staff a rapidtesting site from 1-6 p.m. Tuesday at Saratoga Spa State Park, 99 E. West Road, Saratoga Springs. The state-run testing site will also be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The testing will be targeted to individuals who went to the jewelry store between Dec. 18 and 24, state officials said. Anyone who was in the store on those dates should self-monitor for symptoms, including fever. He also recommended that those individuals should quarantine for two weeks after their visit to the store, even if they have a confirmed negative test.
An Instagram post from the jeweler on Dec. 27 said the store would be temporarily closed until Monday, Jan. 4. However, on Monday, when the Times Union called the store during regular business hours, no one answered the phone.
“The safety and confidence of our employees and customers have always been of the utmost importance to us so we feel that this is the correct step for us to take,” the online post noted. “We apologize in advance if you were planning on visiting us this week. Our highest priority is the health and safety of our community.”
Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton, who is in charge of the city’s response to COVID -19, said that at this point, the city is trying to follow safety protocols as closely as possible.
“We are at the mercy of the county,” Dalton said. “We work well with them. We are following all of the New York state regulations. We are following the governor very closely and making sure we are following every safety protocol.”
On Monday afternoon, Saratoga County officials had not said what their plans are, if any, to contain the new variant of the virus.
Cases in Saratoga County have been moving up quickly. As of Sunday, the county was averaging 246 new coronavirus cases daily, based on a seven-day rolling average. That rate is the third highest of any county in the region, behind Schenectady County (275) and Albany County (259).
The county also has the region’s second-highest positivity rate at 11 percent. The region’s highest rate of positive tests is in Greene County, 12.2 percent.
The variant has already been identified in people in California, Colorado and Florida as well as 33 other countries, the governor said. The World Health Organization has said the variant strain spreads more easily from person to person, but it is not believed to have a higher death rate than regular COVID -19.
Cuomo’s announcement came the same day that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new national lockdown to stem the spread of the variant.
The governor came out early with an aggressive plan for the variant, directing health experts to begin testing for it and requesting that airlines bringing passengers to New York from the U.K. affirm that passengers have tested negative for COVID -19 before boarding. Three airlines agreed to do so voluntarily.