Santa Clara County warns of ‘worrying trend’ in COVID variants, advises against travel

“Genomic sequencing is allowing us to confirm what we already presumed based on national trends, which is the presence and unfortunate increase of variants in our community,”  Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s health officer, wrote in an email. “We’re already seeing surges in other parts of the country, likely driven by variants. Combined with the data we are seeing locally, these are important warning signs that we must continue to minimize the spread. We can still stop a surge from happening here if we hold onto our tried and true prevention measures for a little longer while we increase our vaccination rates.”

In a live press conference, Cody urged residents to not act as if the pandemic is over.

“We need people to just hold on a little bit longer,” she said. “Keep wearing your mask. Delay your travel. Don’t indoor dine. Don’t go into indoor bars. Don’t host an indoor gathering at your home. Even if it’s allowed by the state rules, don’t do it. It’s not safe.”

Every variant of concern has been detected in the county and last week Santa Clara was the first county in the Bay Area to identify the variant dominant in Brazil.

The variant known as P.1 is highly infectious and research has shown that it can reinfect people who have already had other strains of the virus.

The individual who tested positive for the P.1 variant was identified in mid-March after returning from out-of-state travel, according to the county health department.

What’s more, the first two cases of the variants of concern detected in New York (one each of B.1.525 and B.1.526) have now been confirmed in Santa Clara, county officials said.

As of March 27, there are 92 confirmed cases of B.1.1.7 (first detected in the United Kingdom), three confirmed cases of B.1.351 (first detected in South Africa), one case of P.1 (first detected in Japan/Brazil) and over 1,000 confirmed cases of B.1.427 and B.1.429 (first detected in California).

Viruses are constantly mutating, and numerous variants of COVID-19 have emerged in recent months including variants from the United Kingdom and South Africa. They are concerning as researchers believe they may spread more easily and are likely to become the main source of disease.

Early research suggests the vaccines offers protection against the new variants, although they may be slightly less effective and further investigation is needed.