South Africa’s COVID-19 variant first identified in Colorado – Canon City Daily Record

The first more contagious COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa was first identified in corona, and three cases were detected in Chafy County Prison, which has experienced a third outbreak of coronavirus, state health officials said. Announced on Sunday night.< / p>

Two Buena Vista correctional facility staff and one of the prison inmates tested positive for the B.1.351 variant, the Corona Department of Public Health and Environment said.

According to the Coronavirus Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 81 South African variants have been identified in 20 US jurisdictions, including California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Maine.

According to the CDC, South African variants were first detected in the country in October and, like the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the United Kingdom, are easier and faster than other versions of COVID-19. It is believed to spread.

The first confirmed case of the B.1.1.7 variant in the United States It was detected in the corona in late December.

Since then, state health officials have identified 190 cases called “variants of concern,” including B.1.1.7. And other COVID-19 strains “can spread easily, cause more serious illness, reduce the effectiveness of treatment or vaccines, or be difficult to detect with current tests.”

This is a small number. A total of 436,602 cases of coronavirus were detected in the state last year, but public health officials said that highly contagious strains could take off before a sufficient population was infected with the virus. Or we are concerned that some variants may prove more resistant to the new vaccine.

The discovery of South African strains in Corona took place after three samples from Buena Vista Prison were randomly selected. Gene sequencing as part of the state’s ongoing surveillance analysis of subspecies.

Authorities did not release information on the health of the three.

The State Department of Health is currently planning all positive sequencing. COVID-19 specimens from prison, authorities said in a news release to look for variants. Anyone exposed in prison will be quarantined for 14 days, according to health officials.

The first COVID-19 outbreak in Buena Vista Prison last July infected 197 prisoners and 16 staff were positive. Health department records. A second outbreak continued in October, with 314 prisoners positive and 60 personnel infected.

According to state records, the second outbreak killed one prisoner.

Current Prison Outbreak — Third — Declared on February 24, included 3 inmate infections and 11 staff cases as of Wednesday.

Due to the outbreak, Buena Vista prisoners were tested for COVID-19 weekly from October 19th to February. .3, just before the second outbreak is declared, according to state health officials. Weekly testing resumed on February 22, when the current outbreak began.

Orthodontic staff will be tested weekly using a more accurate PCR test and daily with Binax NOWCOVID-19 from November onwards. Rapid antigen testing, according to state health officials.

Prisoners undergo a PCR test when symptoms appear, when they are exposed to someone who tests positive, or when they are being monitored at the time of their outbreak.

Officials said Monday a team of state health departments would meet at Buena Vista Prison to conduct PCR tests and host a vaccine clinic for prisoners and staff. The Vaccine Clinic is planned for the second half of the week for close contact between family and staff.

To date, only 664 of Colorado’s more than 30,000 prisoners are eligible for vaccination only because of their age, or more recently, their health, despite the high-risk setting. I am vaccinated. In the original draft vaccine program, the State Department of Health gave prisoners a high priority, but they were later eliminated.

However, Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment policy allows flexibility to deviate from the state’s vaccine priorities. “On new risks of rapid spread of COVID-19 (eg, variant transmission),” officials announced a vaccination program for Buena Vista.

Colorado prisons were hit particularly hard by COVID-19. Last year, 8,693 prisoners tested positive across the state and 29 prisoners died, according to data from the Colorado Corrections Bureau.

Many of the state’s largest outbreaks during the pandemic took place in correctional facilities with prisons and detention centers. Prisons account for 11 of the 15 largest cases currently occurring in Colorado.