Coronavirus Variant Found In Maryland: Governor

Elizabeth Janney
Updated ·2 min read

MARYLAND — The UK Variant of the coronavirus has been detected in Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday, Jan. 12.

The first two cases have been confirmed, and they are two Anne Arundel County residents, according to Hogan.

One of the infected people recently returned from travel abroad to multiple continents, and the other is the spouse of that person, the governor said.

Both are currently in isolation, and are quarantining with their two children. Extensive contact tracing indicated the couple did not transmit the strain of the virus to anyone else.

The new strain was first detected in the U.K. in September 2020 and has become highly prevalent in London and southeast England, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The variant appears to be spread more easily, but so far evidence suggests it doesn't cause a more serious illness or a greater chance of death than other COVID-19 strains.

"It's much more contagious," Hogan said, noting the state was concerned due to already rising cases and increasing hospitalizations in the state. "This is something we're going to focus a lot of attention on immediately."

Hogan said he was just notified before a news conference Tuesday afternoon that the variant of the virus was confirmed. A private lab conducted a coronavirus test and found strange sequences, then shared the information with the Maryland public health lab, which consulted with the CDC in confirming this was indeed what has been labeled the "UK variant."

Viruses constantly mutate as they replicate over and over, according to the CDC. Sometimes the variants aren't much different from the original virus and disappear."

“Our state health officials are closely monitoring the emergence of the B-117 strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the state,” Hogan said in a statement. “We encourage Marylanders to practice caution to limit the additional risk of transmission associated with this strain. It is critically important that we all continue to follow standard public health and safety measures, including mask wearing, regular handwashing, and social distancing.”

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the variant was 50 to 70 percent more contagious than other strains.

Maryland has been testing for the UK variant at about five times the national average, Hogan said.

Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, told Hogan the variant was likely in every state but had not yet been detected, the governor said.

The United States' first confirmed case of this new coronavirus variant was found in Colorado in December and has since been found in multiple states.

Patch editor Rich Scinto contributed to this report.

See Also:

This article originally appeared on the Baltimore Patch