Three more cases of the highly-contagious variant of the coronavirus that was first discovered in the United Kingdom have been identified in New Jersey, bringing the total number identified in the Garden State to 11.
The first two cases of the variant were announced last week. Officials announced Wednesday they discovered six additional cases. Three more were announced Friday.
The cases have been reported in six counties:
- Ocean County - 4
- Essex County - 2
- Morris County - 2
- Hudson County - 1
- Middlesex County - 1
- Warren County - 1
At least one death has been attributed to the new variant and two of the cases involved people with recent travel.
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New Jersey health officials on Friday reported another 5,023 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 83 additional deaths as vaccination doses neared 725,000 shots administered.
Scientists have said the mutation is up to 70% more contagious. But there is preliminary evidence that it could be deadly and other variants could be more resistant to vaccines. New Jersey is among at least 24 states where the strain has been confirmed.
Viruses often acquire small changes of a letter or two in their genetic alphabet just through normal evolution. A slightly modified strain can become the most common one in a country or region just because that’s the strain that first took hold there or because “super-spreader” events helped it become entrenched.
A bigger worry is when a virus mutates by changing the proteins on its surface to help it escape from drugs or the immune system.
But New Jersey health officials have said they don’t think the variant will limit the effectiveness of the vaccines for the virus.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
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N.J. has identified 11 cases of more contagious COVID variant - nj.com
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