First Confirmed Indian COVID Variant Discovered in California

By Mary Anne Webber (staff@latinpost.com) First Posted: Apr 05, 2021 06:03 AM EDT

A pharmacy technician fills syringes of COVID-19 vaccines in the gymnasium at Whitney M. Young Elementary School on April 2, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. The elementary school opened on Good Friday, located in the West End of Louisville, an area comprising primarily African American neighborhoods, in an effort to encourage Black residents to receive their COVID-19 vaccination. (Photo : Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

At least one case of the new Indian COVID variant was detected in Northern California, according to researchers at Stanford University.

Stanford Health Care spokesperson Lisa Kim said that the new variant has two mutations in the spiky protein that the virus latches onto. This includes one found in the California strain.

Kim said in an emailed statement that they believe this is the first described case with this variant in the U.S., according to an NBC News report.

The patient is said to be from the San Francisco Bay Area by the school's Clinical Virology Laboratory.

Indian COVID Variant

Later in March, the Indian COVID variant was first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil, according to health officials.

Health officials and experts warned against linking the variants with the surge in new infections in India, according to an Associated Press report.

Scientists have been looking at which ones might make the virus spread more easily or might make people sicker once they contracted the virus.

Three COVID variants have been determined to be variants of concerns, such as those detected in South Africa, Britain, and Brazil.

Dr. Rakesh Mishra, the director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said that the genetic mutation of this COVID variant might help the virus spread more easily and escape the immune system.

Mishra warned about relating it to the current surge.

"Fourth Wave"

Meanwhile, epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm said that he believes the U.S. is seeing a "fourth wave" of infections due to COVID variants that have emerged over the past few months, according to a Fox News report.

Osterholm said the variants pose a huge problem despite the existing vaccines.

Osterholm said that in some ways, the U.S. is in a new pandemic.

"The only good news is that the current vaccines are effective against this particular variant B.1.1.7," he was quoted in a report.

Osterholm's chief concern was that the B.1.1.7 or also known as the British variant appears to be more contagious among children, saying that this variant is very much affecting at transmitting the virus at a certain younger age range.

He cited the case in Minnesota, wherein they have had 749 schools with cases.

Minnesota has 5,123 public schools and PK-12 schools. This would mean that 14 percent of schools in the state of Minnesota have reported a COVID case.

Twenty-five states have reported an increase in COVID cases. The country has reported an average of 63,000 new cases daily over the past week, which sets a 17 percent increase from the previous week, according to The Guardian report.

The new COVID cases are most apparent in states like Michigan and New York.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said that she has a feeling of impending doom.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden has called on local state officials to reinstate their mask mandates as the U.S. is seeing an alarming uprise in case numbers.

"Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down," Biden was quoted.

WATCH: First confirmed Indian COVID-19 variant in the U.S. found in Bay Area - from KRON 4

Tags Indian, COVID Variant