PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The new, more contagious COVID-19 variant, first identified in the U.K., has been detected in a resident of southeastern Pennsylvania.
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Bucks County Health Department announced on Friday that the coronavirus variant was found in a woman in her 50s. Officials say she is currently recovering.
The patient began experiencing symptoms the last week of December and was briefly hospitalized. She is a resident of Philadelphia and Bucks County.
Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker said it is not unusual for a virus to change and mutate.
"We are not overly concerned about this development, because all available evidence shows that the existing vaccines are effective against this variant," Damsker said. "So long as that continues to be the case, we will treat this variant the same as our other cases."
Health officials from both departments are working together to conduct contact tracing to identify, inform and monitor anyone who was in close contact with her.
This is the second confirmed case of the B.1.1.7 variant COVID-19 seen in Pennsylvania. The first was discovered last week in Dauphin County.
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