Health & Fitness
A New Version Of The Delta Variant Has Been Spreading Globally And Been Detected In Florida
Floridians are likely familiar with the delta variant, which is highly contagious, spreads faster and causes more COVID-19 infections.
FLORIDA — By now, Floridians are likely familiar with the Delta variant, which is highly contagious, spreads faster and causes more COVID-19 infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Not widely known is a new strain of the Delta variant. It’s called AY.4.2. — sometimes called Delta plus — and it’s in Florida, among other states.
Find out what's happening in Across Floridafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The World Health Organization (WHO) described AY.4.2. in part as “new branches of the COVID-19 evolutionary tree,” and has “three additional mutations,” according to a late October epidemiological update on COVID-19. And the new strain has spread to at least 42 countries, according to WHO.
How the new strain will act has become a focus of epidemiologists, virologists and other health officials and scientists, as well as media outlets.
Find out what's happening in Across Floridafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
According to the Associated Press, “Scientists are monitoring the delta-related variant — known as AY.4.2. — to see if it might spread more easily or be more deadly than previous versions of the coronavirus.”
CBS reported earlier this week that “a potentially faster-spreading ‘sub-lineage’ of the coronavirus Delta variant named AY.4.2 has been spotted by labs in at least 8 states, and health authorities in the United Kingdom say they are investigating a growing share of cases from this strain of the virus.
“Labs in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Washington state, plus the District of Columbia, have so far spotted at least one case of AY.4.2.”
However, another analysis shows a larger AY.4.2. number: Ten states and the District of Columbia. That analysis comes from a “mutation tracker” from the oubreak.info website.
The 10 states listed are Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Nevada, Maryland, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington state, California and Florida, plus Washington D.C.
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