Health & Fitness
MA Has Highest Case Count Of Powerful, New Coronavirus Variant
Of the 54 cases, 43 have been tied to a Cape Cod cluster. Researchers expect to find more of the P1 variant in the coming days.
MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts has more reported cases of the new P.1 variant of COVID-19 than any other state in the country, and researchers said over the weekend most of those cases stem from a cluster on Cape Cod.
A report from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard found 54 such cases in Massachusetts, and said 43 of them stem from the Cape cluster. The variant, which originated in Brazil spreads faster, but researchers still don't know if it is deadlier or if it can reinfect people who have already had the virus.
William Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, told the Boston Globe that while there have been no new cases since the report was issued, he expects more to be detected in the coming days. The report stems from data collected when fewer Massachusetts residents had received vaccinations for the coronavirus.
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The detection is particularly worrying on Cape Cod, where the state has liusted about half of the communities as "high risk" for coronavirus transmission.
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