The first case of the South African covid variant has shown up in Texas. The person lives in Fort Bend County and had traveled domestically, through international airports in December.
Fort Bend County Health Director Dr. Jacqueline Minter says "a few days after that return, they started to have symptoms and were medically evaluated. After that evaluation they were tested for SARS-COV2 infection and the test was positive. The person recovered. The household members all tested and tested negative. The person was absent from work so there were no workplace exposures."
The variant was discovered via genetic sequencing at Houston Methodist Hospital. Two more cases of the UK variant were discovered over the weekend as well. "Dr. Wesley Long with the hospital says they have been sequencing all positive cases since the start of the pandemic. "It was on this Saturday that we became aware of the fact that we had two isolates that were positive for the UK variant and one positive for the South African variant." Both men live in the Houston area and one, in his 50's, is hospitalized.
The first case of the UK variant discovered in Texas was found January 7th in Harris County.
Both variants appear to be more contagious. Dr. Anthony Fauci says the UK strain is spreading so quickly that it is positioned to become the dominant strain of the virus in the United States by the end of March.
The current vaccines are believed to offer good protection against the UK variant, and perhaps weaker protection against the one from South Africa.
