First COVID-19 variant case confirmed in Pa.
New strain of virus discovered in individual in Dauphin County
The first Pennsylvania case of the COVID-19 variant discovered in the United Kingdom has been confirmed in Dauphin County.
According to a news release Thursday from the Pennsylvania Health
Department, the variant is the same one that was discovered in December in England. The Dauphin County individual tested positive after international exposure, the release states.
Case investigation and contact tracing were performed to identify, inform and monitor anyone who was in close contact with that person. The individual had mild symptoms and has recovered at home, the release states.
The release states the virus that causes COVID-19 mutates regularly, which is common among viruses. Dr. Timothy Friel, chairperson of Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Department of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, said the primary difference between the main strain of the coronavirus and the U.K. variant is that the new one is up to 50% more infectious. There is no evidence, however, that it is more or less lethal to those infected, he added.
He said that the Pfizer and
Moderna COVID-19 vaccines will remain effective against it, as should antibodies built up from a previous COVID-19 infection. Available COVID-19 tests will still detect the U.K. variant, though the majority of publicly available ones will not be able to identify which strain someone is infected with.
Though the virus was first discovered in the U.K., Friel said it is not known if it mutated there or if the U.K., with its robust infrastructure to monitor viruses, was merely the first to identify it.
Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, infectious disease expert for St. Luke’s University Health Network, said what is known is the new variant spread quickly throughout the U.K., becoming a predominant strain. He said six weeks ago the new variant accounted for roughly 1% of COVID-19 cases there. Now it accounts for more than half.
The first confirmed case of the variant in the U.S. was reported Dec. 29 in Colorado. Since then, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified more than 50 cases of the variant, in California, Florida, Georgia, New York and now Pennsylvania.
However, Friel said it is unknown to what degree the variant has already spread in the
U.S., due to a lack of tests that can differentiate it. He added that the variant’s contagiousness has experts andmedical professionals concerned.
“We’re already talking about a very infectious virus, now it’s even more infectious,” Friel said. “And we’re talking about a virus that at a baseline, has a significantly higher fatality rate than we are used to seeing with influenza on a yearly basis.”
He said with a more transmissible virus there is a greater risk of more people being infected and, thus, more people being hospitalized and dying.
Friel and Jahre said the top priority has to be vaccinating as many people as possible. Friel added that the CDC’s recommended practices to minimize spread of COVID-19 are still effective against the newstrain as well.
Health SecretaryDr. Rachel Levine said the state had been preparing for this variant by working closely with the CDC and since November has been sending 10-35 random samples biweekly to the CDC, which has been genome-sequencing for potential cases of the variant. The U.K. variant isn’t the only new strain identified. Two other variants of the virus that also have a higher rate of infection were discovered in South Africa and Brazil.
Testing may soon be available in the Lehigh Valley to identify cases involving the COVID-19 variants. Jahre said St. Luke’s has tests it is experimenting with that can identify if parts of a virus’ structure indicate it maybeavariant, at which point, moretests can determine if it is indeed a variant. He said St. Luke’s plans to implement widespread use of those tests in the near future.