R&I – TxPAT ***
“The issue of mutations is top of mind,” said Governor Gavin Newsom at his Wednesday Covid-19 press conference, “not only here in the State of California, but across the globe.”
Newsom then confirmed the first cases in the state of the variant first discovered in South Africa. On Tuesday, the governor reported that that variant had not been detected. But he said on Wednesday, “as of a few hours ago, two cases have been reported…one in Alameda County and one in Santa Clara county.”
The CDC says the South African variant — also known as B.1.351 — seems to be more transmissible. One study also indicated it might be resistant to at least one vaccine.
Officials in South Africa this week halted the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines — which are not yet being used in the United States — because the vaccinations were found in a clinical trial not to be effective in slowing spread of the South African variant. The mutation also may be less vulnerable to to the effects of antibody drugs or antibody-rich blood drawn from Covid-19 survivors, both of which help combat the virus.
And now that variant is loose in the most-infected state in the nation.
Shortly after Newsom spoke, California recorded 44,989 deaths due to the pandemic. That made it the US state with the highest number of Covid-related fatalities, surpassing New York which on Wednesday recorded a total of 44,683 deaths.
Originally detected in early October 2020, B.1.351 shares some mutations with the UK variant — called B.1.1.7. Cases caused by B.1.351 had been reported in the US by the end of January 2021.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said in January that B.1.351 “troubles me.” He told CNN last week that the South African variant can reinfect those who have already had it.
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://deadline.com/2021/02/california-south-african-covid-19-variant-found-gavin-newsom-1234691514/