BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) announced they have confirmed two additional cases of the U.K. variant of COVID-19 in the state.
The two cases were confirmed in Southwest Louisiana and in the greater New Orleans area. The individual in Southwest Louisiana did not report a history of travel outside of Louisiana, while the case in New Orleans is still under investigation. Another 14 additional suspect variant cases are pending confirmatory testing.
BEcause most local COVID-19 tests are not able to provide results that can identify variant strains, there are likely to be many additional U.K. variant cases that are currently undetected. The variant is likely to be circulating in other parts of Louisiana, as well, according to LDH.
This version of the virus is known as the U.K. variant since it was first detected in the United Kingdom. This variant spreads more easily from one person to another than other viral strains currently circulating in the United States. However, current COVID-19 vaccines are thought to be effective against the variant strain. Further study is needed to determine if there is increased disease severity associated with the variant strain.
Because this variant strain is more contagious and known to be circulating in Louisiana, it is more important than ever that everyone:
- Wear a mask,
- Practice social distancing,
- Avoid gatherings,
- Avoid travel,
- Stay home when sick,
- Practice hand hygiene,
- Quarantine and get tested if exposed to a positive case, and
When eligible, consider getting the COVID vaccine.
