Florida’s COVID variant cases explode following spring break

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Sun, 2021-04-18 11:56 — mike kraft

Following spring break, Florida’s COVID variant cases explode One month after the peak of Florida’s spring break, the number of residents infected with more infectious mutated strains of COVID-19 has exploded, rising six-fold since mid-March and leaving 122 people hospitalized. The information, disclosed in response to a lawsuit by the Orlando Sentinel against the Florida Department of Health, shows the total as of Thursday reached 5,177 cases involving five “variants of concern” — a designation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for mutations that make the virus more transmissible, deadly or resistant to treatment and current vaccines. Kate Santich orlandosentinel.com

One month after the peak of Florida’s spring break, the number of residents infected with more infectious mutated strains of COVID-19 has exploded, rising six-fold since mid-March and leaving 122 people hospitalized.

The information, disclosed in response to a lawsuit by the Orlando Sentinel against the Florida Department of Health, shows the total as of Thursday reached 5,177 cases involving five “variants of concern” — a designation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for mutations that make the virus more transmissible, deadly or resistant to treatment and current vaccines.

In 31 of those cases, the people infected died.

“This is kind of what a lot of public health folks have been afraid of, and why we’re trying to emphasize the need for continued caution as we move forward,” said Zinzi Bailey, a social epidemiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “My biggest fear is that, if we become more lax with our masking and our social distancing, we will actually start creating our own variant” — including, potentially, one that could evade current vaccines. ...

The most common strain of the virus continues to be B.1.1.7, a variant first detected in the United Kingdom, which is thought to be as much as 50% more infectious and potentially causing more hospitalizations and deaths. Current vaccines are effective against the variant.

But other strains are now spreading rapidly for the first time, including B.1.427 and B.1.429 — both traced to outbreaks in California. Both are about 20% more infectious than the original COVID-19 strain, and both are considered “moderately” more difficult to treat and prevent. At least one case of those variants has been found in each Central Florida county. ...

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