Vaccinations help control COVID-19 variants

In Colorado and within Northeast Colorado Health Department’s six-county health district, COVID-19 cases are increasing and hospitalizations are also on the rise. According to Dr. Rachel Herlihy, Colorado state epidemiologist, half of these new cases are the B.1.1.7 variant, a strain first discovered in the U.K. that is more contagious and associated with more severe symptoms.

This is not the only variant of the original COVID-19 virus the state lab is tracking. In fact, there are four others that have been identified in Colorado: the P.1, first seen in Japan and Brazil, B.1.351 or South African strain and two different types from California.

Transmission rates of these variants could be 35-45% higher than that of past types of COVID infections. Variants will continue to be a concern as long as we give the virus an opportunity to evolve and allow it to transmit from person to person. Our best defense against this scenario is to quickly get a majority of the population vaccinated, eliminating the progression of the disease.

A variant is a mutated version of the original COVID-19 virus. These changes are expected to occur and increase in numbers as the virus infects more people. In each new case, the virus has the potential to change within the host’s body.

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