17 Cases Of Faster Spreading Coronavirus Variant Confirmed In MI
LANSING, MI — Michigan has confirmed 17 cases of B.1.1.7, a new variant of the coronavirus that is said to spread more easily, state health officials said Monday.
Joneigh Khaldun, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services chief medical executive, said Monday 13 of the cases have been confirmed in Washtenaw County and state health officials know of at least four confirmed cases in Wayne County. Khaldun reiterated that there are likely more cases of the variant spread across the state, and cautioned that the variant is spread more easily from person to person.
"This variant is more easily spread from person to person, and that means that for any given case it will likely infect more people and lead to more spread," Khaldun said Monday during a news conference. "This means probably more cases overall, more hospitalizations and deaths."
The state reported its first case of the coronavirus variant on Jan. 16, when a Washtenaw County woman tested positive for B.1.1.7 after she traveled to the United Kingdom, where the variant was widely identified, officials said.
On Saturday, Michigan announced that three more people in Michigan had tested positive for B.1.1.7, growing the number of confirmed cases to six. That number has since grown even more, Khaldun said.
Many of the cases have ties to the University of Michigan, prompting the university to pause its athletics for two weeks.
While the new coronavirus variant is more easily spread, Khaldun said the variant does not yet appear to cause more severe disease. She also noted that tests for the coronavirus also can detect the new variant — but the ease of its spread is concerning.
"We do not want to have to go backward to slow the great progress we've already made," Khaldun said. "We want to continue to reopen our economy and get back to a sense of normalcy. This means that we all have to think a bit differently and more aggressively about preventing that spread."
Michigan on Saturday reported 1,601 new cases of the coronavirus and 221 more COVID-19 deaths. The new figures bring the state's coronavirus totals to 548,069 cases and 14,291, according to state data.
More than 463,000 people in Michigan have recovered from the coronavirus, according to state health officials.
This article originally appeared on the Detroit Patch
