UK variant of COVID-19 spreading in Orange County
UK variant of coronavirus spreading rapidly
It is the new major concern in the COVID-19 pandemic: Variants of that virus are spreading like wildfire. Cases of the so-called British or U.K. variants are doubling every 10 days in the United States. There are now more than 200 cases around Florida, more than any other state in the country.
ORLANDO, Fla. - A total of 10 cases of the UK COVID variant are now in Orange County. That number increased tenfold in just a matter of days since the first case was reported on Thursday.
Those infected range in age from 18 to 61. Health officials say they are all strangers to each other.
Two did attend large gatherings, so health officials expect there are many more cases out there, which is concerning.
"The more that they spread and the faster that they spread, the harder that it is for us to control the pandemic with our vaccinations," said Florida Department of Health Epidemiology Program Manager Alvina Chu.
The CDC says the UK variant could be the most dominant form of the virus within the next couple of months.
"It is crucially important that everyone maintain pandemic precautions," Chu said.
Health officials say these cases didn't just occur over the weekend. This is data that just came back from tests collected since the end of January. That's because not every positive COVID test is tested for the UK variant.
Health officials say there are likely more cases in the county, but only an estimated 5% to 10% of COVID tests are tested for the UK variant. They are part of a random sampling sent to state labs.
"Genetic sequencing of the positive variants is not done routinely because it doesn’t make a difference right now, say for medical care or for the med precautions. They are still the same," Chu said.