Health officials across the United States have continued to report new cases of the novel coronavirus mutation that was originally discovered in the United Kingdom.
What’s going on?
Florida health officials said Thursday that there’s evidence of the new mutation in the Sunshine State, which would make Florida the third state to see such cases, according to NBC News.
- California has seen the new COVID-19 mutation as well. In total, four people have been diagnosed with the new mutation in the Golden State.
- Colorado was the first state to confirm a case of the new COVID-19 variant.
Per NBC News, the new COVID-19 mutation “is believed to be more transmissible but not more deadly than the strain that started the pandemic, and there is no evidence that vaccines are any less effective against it.”
U.S. continues to search
View Comments
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it plans to double the number of genome sequences to watch for the new mutation in the United States, CNN reports.
- Currently, the CDC sequences about 3,000 samples per week. The agency hopes that number will jump to 6,500 per week.
- Sequencing helps officials find mutations to viruses that could explain how the viruses spread.