More infectious and deadly: local strain of coronavirus identified in California

Scientists in California believe the state has an indigenous strain of coronavirus that could be causing a dramatic increase in cases and deaths. New York Post.

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Two separate research teams discovered the "California strain" while searching for a new mutation of the virus, which is believed to have originated in the UK.

The alleged Californian strain is on the same “family tree” as the British one and may be responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in the state over the past few months, the document says.

One of the laboratories that discovered the strain, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said it made up 24% of an estimated 4500 virus samples collected across California in the final weeks of 2020.

Another analysis showed that 25% of the 332 samples taken in Northern California belonged to the new strain.

“We had a homegrown variant right under our noses,” said Dr. Charles Chiu, a laboratory medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

Chiu said the strain was only found when looking for a British variant.

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Dr. Eric Weil, a pathologist at Cedars Sinai, said the strain could be responsible for the state's doubling death toll in less than three months.

“That probably helped drive up the number of cases around the holidays,” Vail said. “But human behavior is the predominant factor in the spread of the virus, and the fact that this happened as the weather got colder and during the height of the holidays, when people gather together, is not a coincidence.”

On Monday, January 25, California officials revealed more details about the new strain. New York Post... The strain has been dubbed B1429 and is now reported in 456 cases in the state, according to Governor Gavin Newsom.

But the governor warned that the real number of cases is likely much higher. Newsom said the state is still working to find out if the B1429 strain causes more serious infections, as well as more contagious.

“We're concerned that it [B1429] attaches to a human cell a little more than the natural virus we were dealing with. That could make it more contagious, but we're not sure yet, we're studying it," said Mark Ghaly, head of the California Department of Health and Human Services.

The number of cases has skyrocketed recently, with 35% of California's 37 coronavirus deaths occurring in the past month, according to Johns Hopkins Medical Center.

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Gali said a combination of vacation travel and the characteristics of the new strain may be to blame.

“Look, I've played sports my whole life. We have an opponent we have never seen before. We don’t have game film on COVID-19, we don’t know what it’s going to do, so we have to constantly watch the game of the day to understand what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Ghaly said.

Despite warnings, Newsom canceled the state's stay at home order introduced last month on Jan.25.

Officials say it's unclear if a new vaccine is needed to combat the B1429 strain, but are urging Californians to continue to vaccinate with the state's proposed drugs.

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