Updated 3:25 p.m., Jan. 25: The Virginia Department of Health announced Monday afternoon that Virginia has recorded its first case of a variant strain of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom late last year. It’s known as the B.1.1.7 variant, and so far, the United States has recorded nearly 200 cases of this mutation of the virus, which appears to be more contagious than the earlier version.
The patient with the case in Virginia is an adult in Northern Virginia with no reported recent travel history. Virginia’s Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, which conducts much of the state’s COVID testing, identified the variant through sequencing.
“Viruses change all the time, and we expect to see new strains as disease spreads,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver said in a statement. “We know this variant strain spreads more quickly between people than other strains currently circulating in our communities, but we still have more to learn about whether it causes more severe illness. As our state public health officials closely monitor the emergence of the B.1.1.7 variant in our commonwealth, it is important that all Virginians continue following mitigation measures.”
