NY and U.K. Strains of COVID-19 Account for 51% of Cases in NYC
Today, a number of Coronavirus news items came from multiple fronts in New York City: Indoor dining for NYC restaurants will go up to 50% beginning March 19 and variant strains of the COVID-19 virus account for 51% of new cases in the city.
During NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press briefing we heard from Doctors Jay Varma and Dave Chokshi who enlightened us as to the effect that strains of the virus are having on our area’s infection rate.
One variant, B-117 from the U.K. along with the one first discovered in New York, B-1526, account for 51% of all cases in NYC.
“So, for the variant of interest B-1526 that was reported here first in New York, our preliminary analysis indicates that it is probably more infectious than older strains of the virus,” stated Dr. Varma.
Dr. Chokshi added that the B-1526 rose to 39% of all samples sequenced by the pandemic response lab from 31% during the week prior. By comparison, the U.K. variant rose from 8% to 12% during the same time period. Together, they make up 51% of cases.
On the brighter side, Mayor de Blasio had the following to say:
“And, so far, thank God, what we’re finding is the variants are not posing the worst kind of problems that we might fear. For example, a variant that is more deadly – we’re not seeing that. A variant that’s vaccine resistant – we’re not seeing that.”
“The important thing, is to get tested,” is the core message put forth by all. Aside, of course, by the obvious fact that we should all remain vigilant and follow through with safety guidelines.