Colorado health officials said they’ve found a second local case of the new coronavirus variant from the United Kingdom, CNN reports.
- The news comes shortly after Colorado reported the first U.S. case of the virus.
More on the new cases:
- Both cases involve men who work at the Good Samaritan Society assisted living facility in Simla, which is about 45 miles away from Colorado Springs, according to CNN.
- The two men are isolating outside the county where they worked. Officials said there is no evidence the spread has gone outside of their community.
A little more context:
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday the state had discovered the first reported case of the new coronavirus mutation, which had previously prompted shutdowns in the United Kingdom, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
- Experts suggest the new variant could be more transmissible than the first mutation. But there are still questions about whether or not the new variant will be blocked by the COVID-19 vaccine.
So how did these men get it?
It’s unclear. The Associated Press reports that the first case didn’t have any travel history, which triggers several questions about how the virus arrived in the U.S.
- It’s likely, then, that the variant moved by community spread. Dr. Scott Gottlieb recently told CNBC the new mutation “is already in the United States.”