Mutant Coronavirus Strain May Already Be In Bay Area: Report
UCSF infectious disease specialist Monica Gandhi: "It will take over because it's so fast."


    Posted Thu, Dec 31, 2020 at 11:03 am PT

The new variant, identified by scientists as B.1.1.7, is not believed to be inherently more dangerous than previous versions of the coronavirus but spreads more rapidly, experts say.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA — Experts say a new coronavirus variant first discovered in the U.K. may already be in the Bay Area, NBC News reports.

The new strain, which is believed to be more contagious, was first reported in the U.S. Tuesday.

Officials said a Colorado man in his 20s living in rural Elbert County with no travel history is the first known case of the variant on American soil.

A second case of the new strain was reported Wednesday in San Diego in a man his 30s, also with no travel history, officials said.

The new variant, identified by scientists as B.1.1.7, is not believed to be more inherently dangerous than previous versions of the coronavirus but spreads more rapidly, experts say.

Dr. Ravi Gupta, a University of Cambridge in England virus expert, told The Associated Press that the new variant spreads up to twice as fast England's most common version of the coronavirus.

Such mutations were anticipated and are a normal occurrence that enable certain strains to develop advantages, experts say.

Those advantages help strains become dominant, which appears to be the way the B.1.1.7 variant is going, UCSF infectious disease specialist Monica Gandhi told NBC News.

"It's likely to take over the U.S. strain," Gandhi said. "It will take over because it's so fast."

The extent to which the new strain has spread throughout the country and whether it is even in the Bay Area at all is not yet known.

The development nevertheless comes at an inopportune time.

With the nation already at the height of the health crisis and many local hospitals already overwhelmed, the new strain could push health care systems in many areas past their breaking point, CNBC reports.

A South Bay hospital announced Monday it hit its ICU bed limit and is sending patients to surge beds.

The U.S. reported more than 3,740 deaths Wednesday, breaking a single-day record for a second straight day, CNN reports.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a grim forecast Wednesday, warning that the nation could experience more than 80,000 coronavirus-related deaths over the next three weeks.

The Bay Area's ICU capacity has dwindled to 7.5 percent as of Wednesday according to the state's COVID-19 website.

Regardless of whether the dominant coronavirus strain changes, public health experts say measures to contain COVID-19 will remain the same.

"Whether the variant is slightly more infectious than the virus as we're experiencing it now in the predominant strain we're seeing here in L.A. County, the steps to take are the same. And the urgency is the same," Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

"There is a lot of community spread, and that makes it easier for this virus to keep spreading…So we're all going to have to do everything we know how to do to contain the virus."