Researchers: Potentially vaccine resistant COVID mutation detected in state

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have confirmed at least one case of COVID-19 in Connecticut that contained a mutation that could make the virus less susceptible to vaccine.

The mutation, known as E484K, has been detected in strains of the virus that were first documented in South Africa and Brazil, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have also found the mutation in 11 samples of a highly-infectious variant first detected there, known as B.1.1.7.

Dr. Tara Alpert, a postdoctoral fellow studying the spread of the novel coronavirus at the Yale School of Public Health, said the E484K mutation has not been found in the B.1.1.7 variant in Connecticut.

“We haven’t found it in Connecticut yet,” she said Tuesday. “We have found the E484K in a non-B.1.1.7 strain, and those have popped up occasionally across many different lineages.”

One was found in Connecticut with preliminary evidence for four more.

But that comes as hospitalizations and positivity rates have remained relatively low in recent weeks. On Wednesday, there were 26 fewer COVID hospitalizations, dropping the statewide total to 874 — the lowest it’s been since Nov. 21.

There were 482 new infections reported Wednesday out of 12,782 tests, for a daily positivity rate of 3.77 percent. The seven-day positivity rate hovers just below 4 percent, at 3.89 percent.

Despite low positivity rates and declining hospitalizations, two dozen more COVIDrelated deaths were also reported, bringing the state’s death toll to 7,157.

The prospect of a highly infectious strain of the virus that could also reduce the effectiveness of vaccines is concerning, because it could potentially spread rapidly and prolong the pandemic, health experts have warned. But the seriousness of the mutation remains uncertain.

“There’s also enough uncertainty about what the mutation actually means that it is kind of unclear how serious it is, but it is something that we should watch very closely,” Alpert said.

She stressed that while the mutation is present in the variant first detected in South Africa, and is thought to put the virus at a higher risk of immune escape, those findings are preliminary.

It’s also possible the mutation could be solved with a booster shot developed by a vaccine maker.

So far, Connecticut officials have said 16 cases of the B.1.1.7 strain have been confirmed in the state. The first U.S. cases of the South African variant, known as B.1.351, were found in South Carolina late last month.

Some in the science community have begun using a hurricane-naming system for the alphabet soup of mutation names. So E484K has become “Eric,” while another mutation called N501Y is known as “Nellie.”

So far, it’s unclear exactly how “Eric” showed up in Connecticut.

“He’s popped up across multiple lineages,” Alpert said.

Part of the reason the U.K. first identified B.1.1.7 was because the nation does more genome testing than the U.S.

“If we had an emerging variant, we would not catch it until it was quite dominant already,” Alpert said.

Alpert said the B.1.1.7 variant is of greater concern for the immediate future, because of its high rate of transmission. The variant is thought to be about 50 percent more infectious, according to the CDC.

“It’s kind of what we talked about at the beginning of the pandemic where we want to try to flatten the curve,” Alpert said. “If we have a more infectious virus that’s circulating, the hospitals are already facing capacity limits, so if we push that even further and we have more infections very quickly, then we’ll overwhelm the hospital system and we’ll have a greater proportion of deaths.”

The CDC has warned B.1.1.7 could become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.

So far, Alpert said testing has shown the variant is not the dominant strain in Connecticut, likening it to the beginning of the pandemic in March. “But it very much can be if we kind of behave like normal,” she added.

“I don’t think people need to freak out and everybody needs to stay at home, but I do think we need to be extra careful,” she added.