First identified case of COVID variant from South Africa detected in NC
A more contagious strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has been found in North Carolina, the state health department said Thursday.
The B.1.351 variant of the virus was first identified in South Africa in October. The case reported Thursday marks the first time it has been identified in North Carolina.
In January, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported that another more contagious strain of the coronavirus had been found in the state — this one first discovered in the United Kingdom.
In an effort to protect against the more infectious coronavirus variants, DHHS is recommending people wear two layers of masks in line with guidance the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week.
The B.1.351 sample came from an adult in the central part of the state, according to DHHS. The person had not traveled recently.
B.1.351 has also been found in Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia, according to DHHS. As of Thursday, the CDC reported 13 cases of the B.1.351 variant in five states.
“While we anticipated the arrival of the B.1.351 variant in NC, it’s a reminder that the fight against COVID-19 is not over,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, the DHHS secretary, said.
There is no evidence that the B.1.351 variant is more likely to cause a serious case of COVID-19, the CDC reports.
But Cohen reiterated a message she has sounded in recent weeks: With the virus mutating into several strains that appear more infectious, following public health measures such as wearing a mask and respecting physical distance takes on increased importance.
When wearing a mask, the DHHS release said, people should ensure that it fits “snugly” against their face, recommending masks with metal strips at their top that can be molded over the bridge of a nose. If someone is wearing two masks, the release said, they should wear two cloth masks or a cloth mask over a disposable one — never two disposable masks.
Labcorp, which has a contract with the CDC, discovered the variant during a routine genomic sequencing effort. Sequencing is used to determine the structure of random virus samples and see if there are mutations.
SarahLewis Peel, a DHHS spokeswoman, said the N.C. State Laboratory of Public Health has been submitting at least five random samples to the CDC for sequencing every two weeks since November. Starting in January, the CDC increased its request for positive samples to 31 every two weeks.
On Feb. 8, that went up again, with the CDC requesting 16 samples from North Carolina every week — an increase of one sample every two weeks.
The CDC also has increased the amount of surveillance over the next month, asking for a total of 61 specimens from North Carolina’s lab during each of the next four weeks, Peel said. In addition to those 61 specimens, Labcorp evaluates some of its own samples via a contract the company has with the CDC.
As of Friday, North Carolina had recorded 27,245 new COVID-19 infections over the last week. Even with the CDC’s increased surveillance, 61 samples means only about .2% of all new cases from the past week will be sequenced.
A total of 592 samples from North Carolina have been sequenced as of Feb. 7, according to the CDC, about .075% of the state’s total lab-confirmed cases through that date.
New coronavirus strains
A sample taken from Mecklenburg County last month marked the first time that the B.1.1.7 strain, which was first sequenced in the United Kingdom, was identified in North Carolina.
The CDC reports 981 cases of B.1.1.7 have been found in 37 states. That includes 21 in North Carolina, as of Thursday.
“Because only a very small fraction of positive samples are sequenced, these numbers only show that more transmissible variants are circulating in the US,” Peel wrote in an email to The News & Observer. “They represent a small portion of total cases so far in the US, but this proportion is expected to grow over the coming weeks and months.”
News reports indicate that B.1.1.7 cases stretch across the state, with WLOS reporting on Tuesday that three cases had been found in Buncombe County and WWAY reporting Thursday that two cases had been identified in Pender County, just outside of Wilmington.
The variants first discovered in the UK and South Africa share a mutation with another variant first discovered in Japan and Brazil, according to the CDC. That mutation likely allows the virus to spread faster than the original strain.
In the UK, for instance, B.1.1.7 was found to be about 50% more infectious than the original strain. A CDC report released in January said the UK variant could become the United States’ most common strain of the coronavirus by March.
Moderna tested its COVID-19 vaccine against both variants, finding that it was fully protective against the variant first found in the UK but that it could lose some protection against the variant first found in South Africa.
The vaccine should still remain protective against the variant, Moderna said. But the company announced it is exploring the possibility of both a second booster shot and a booster shot specific to B.1.351.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 6:50 PM.