NoVA Patient W/ No Travel Hist. Tests Positive for Virus Variant Found In So. Africa

WUSA9, March 11, 2021. - Ed.

The Virginia Department of Health and the Department of General Services Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS) announced that the first case of the B.1.351 variant was identified in a sample from a resident of No. Virginia with no reported recent travel history. "The CDC has been working with state public health, academic, and commercial laboratories to increase domestic strain surveillance capacity to sequence thousands of specimens every week," the Va. Department of Health said in a release.

VDH did not specify where in Northern Virginia the patient lives.

"This effort has greatly expanded our ability to detect and characterize emerging viral variants in the United States. With the combined state and national surveillance efforts, it is likely that additional cases with SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern will be identified," officials said in a release. VDH officials say they will closely monitor the emergence of these SARS-CoV-2 variants in the Commonwealth, as officials urge all Virginians to comply now with mitigation measures.

The CDC said that 3,283 out of the 3,389 cases are the most contagious variant known as B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the U.K. VDH announced Thursday that there is a total of 49 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, the variant first discovered in the U.K, in the state.

The CDC continues to urge people to wear masks, stay six feet apart from others, avoid crowds, ventilate indoor spaces, and wash their hands often to prevent the spread of the variants.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/northern-virginia-patient-with-no-travel-history-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-variant-first-found-in-south-africa/ar-BB1euJno

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