A new coronavirus variant is spreading dangerously. Here’s what to know in SC
The more contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus that has spread across the world was diagnosed earlier this week in Georgia. While the variant hasn’t been detected yet in South Carolina, an MUSC infectious disease doctor said she wouldn’t be surprised if cases are eventually discovered here.
Tuesday, the Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed the first case of the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the United Kingdom in September and is widely spreading there. The variant is believed to be more contagious than the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but indications are that it is not more deadly.
The New York Times and other media have reported that vaccine experts so far believe the coronavirus vaccines are effective against the new variant.
Public health officials say the best way to prevent the spread is to adhere to the protection guidelines that have been preached from the beginning of the pandemic: social distance, wear masks, wash your hands, avoid crowds and don’t travel.
“With increased transmission, it allows for the potential to change the trajectory of the virus. And by that I mean, with increased transmission that can potentially allow for more cases, more hospitalizations, more fatalities,” said Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease doctor and assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “And so we have the power to help prevent that by adhering to these public health measures.”
The UK variant is a concern because it has 17 mutations located in the part of the gene that encodes for the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, Kuppalli said. The spike protein is the part of the coronavirus that allows the virus to bind and enter cells in humans.
“As long as we continue to have high rates of coronavirus circulating in the environment, it increases the chance that we could have other variants and other mutations develop,” said Kuppalli. “As we develop more and more mutations, that could affect the effectiveness of the vaccine over time.”
While there are other variants to the virus, the UK strain is more contagious, posing a bigger public health threat. On Dec. 29, the first known B.1.1.7 variant coronavirus case in the U.S. was detected in Denver, Colorado. The first reported case of the B.1.1.7 variant in Georgia came through an 18-year-old patient who had no travel history.
On Wednesday, South Carolina had its highest rates of infection yet with more than 4,000 cases of coronavirus and 13 probable deaths. Nationally, 365,005 people have died from COVID-19, according to the CDC as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 10:21 AM with the headline "A new coronavirus variant is spreading dangerously. Here’s what to know in SC."