BOSTON (WHDH) - Nineteen additional cases of the COVID-19 variant originally found in the United Kingdom have been identified in Massachusetts.
The Mass. Department of Public Health announced Sunday that the total number of cases of the B.1.1.7 variant has risen from 10 to 29.
The first variant case in the United States was identified in late December 2020 and in the Bay State on Jan. 17, 2021.
Four of those 29 cases have evidence of recent travel, suggesting that the majority of cases identified in Massachusetts are community-acquired, the Mass. DPH said.
“We should definitely be concerned,” said Dr. Paul Edward Sax, clinical director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Infectious Disease Clinic. “A smaller amount of this virus can lead us to catch the disease than with the previous variant that was circulating.”
Sax says this variant is 30 to 50 percent more contagious than the original strain of COVID-19.
State officials detected 17 cases in Worcester County, one in Hampden County, two in Middlesex County, six in Norfolk County, two in Plymouth County, and one in Suffolk County.
People infected by the variant in Mass. ranged in ages from 4 years old to almost 70, the Mass. DPH said.
“It looks like the disease is rather similar,” Sax said. “It does also look like people who have this particular variant have on average higher what we call viral loads than people who had the previous variant. That probably also explains why it’s more contagious to other people.”
Sax added that it is still up for debate if the new strain causes more severe illness.
He says the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines provide the best shot at protecting against this strain.
“I’m really pleased that the case numbers are down in Massachusetts,” he said. “They’re down both in the community and in the hospital, and we want to keep that trend going.”
The Mass. DPH continued that the best defense against a rapid rise in cases from variants of concern is to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
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