The first South African COVID-19 variant has been detected in Eastern Washington, with two cases identified in residents of Yakima County.
The vaccines approved for use in the United States may be less effective against the variant originally detected in South Africa than the strain that has been circulating in Eastern Washington for the past year.
The Yakima Health District said that the two people known to be infected with the South Africa variant appeared to have acquired it within the county rather than from traveling and bringing it back to the area.
The first variant detected in Eastern Washington was the United Kingdom Variant, which was identified in a sample collected in Benton County.
The UK Variant is known to be more contagious than the typical COVID strain in the state.
However, there is no conclusive evidence that it is more deadly, said Dr. Amy Person, health officer for Tri-Cities area, when the discovery was announced last week.
The vaccines being used in the United States provide good protection against the UK Variant, according to the Washington state Department of Health.
South Africa Variant
Although vaccines may be less effective against the South Africa Variant detected in Yakima County, vaccines still provide protection against severe illness and death, according to the Yakima Health District.
Additional studies on COVID vaccines and the South Africa variant are underway.
As of March 11, when the latest Washington state report on COVID variants was released, just five cases of the South Africa Variant, or the B.1.351 Variant, had been detected in the state. The other cases were in King County.
The 99 known cases of the UK, or B.1.1.7, Variant detected in the state were in Benton, Clark, Grays Harbor, Island, King, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties.
There also has been a single case of the variant first detected in Brazil in Washington state. It was found in King County.
Washington state has been genotyping a little less than 3% of the test samples that are positive from people who have been tested for COVID-19 across the state, which is a higher percentage than most states. The state’s goal is to increase that to 5%.
Data is incomplete on where testing was done, but the most genotyping appears to be on samples collected in King, Yakima, Snomohish, Pierce, Whatcom and Spokane counties for the first two months of this year.
“Remember, now that we know there are variants in our county, we have to be even more vigilant in protecting ourselves and others to control this pandemic,” said Dr. Larry Jecha, the interim public health officer for Yakima County.
Because COVID-19 variants in Washington state may spread more easily, people need to be vigilant about wearing well-fitting face masks even in small social circles, keeping gatherings outside when possible, staying home when sick and getting a COVID vaccine as soon as eligible for one.
