The new strain of COVID-19 is in Minnesota, and it's not a major surprise, according to one Twin Cities health care specialist.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported Satuday that five people from four different Twin Cities metro counties tested positive for the new strain, which first appeared in the United Kingdom.
"Viruses really do mutate all the time, so this is not in the slightest bit unexpected," said HCMC Dr. David Hilden Sunday morning on WCCO's Health Matters.
The five who tested positive are between the ages of 15 and 37, and none was hospitalized.
The MDH says two of them were overseas before they got sick.
"The good news is it doesn't appear to be more virulent, in other words, it doesn't make you any sicker than the old varient did," said Dr. Hilden. "The other piece of good news is that the vaccine appears to be, at least in preliminary data, highly effective against it."
But Dr. Hilden said the new strain is very contageous.
"So you should double-down on your efforts to not pass it on," he said. "I can't make it any more clear; if a person doesn't live in your house, then you need to be six feet away from them, you need to be wearing a mask, and you need to be not touching them."
On Saturday, the state health department reported 2,489 new cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota with 43 deaths.
The new strain of coronavirus first appeared late last year in the United Kingdom.
