The race to get Virginians vaccinated gained additional urgency on Monday as the state confirmed its first case of a COVID-19 strain that’s more contagious and potentially deadlier.
Virginia’s Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services said the case was found in a resident from Northern Virginia who had no recent travel history. The division confirmed the case using genetic sequencing and has informed the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Dr. Denise Toney, director of the division.
Sequencing allows public health officials to “identify and respond to threats such as emerging COVID-19 variants,” Toney said in a media release Monday.
Named B.1.1.7, the variant first emerged in the United Kingdom. Since Friday, nearly 200 cases of the strain have been identified across 23 U.S. states.