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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dallas County has reported its first known case of the coronavirus variant discovered in the United Kingdom in a man who has not recently traveled outside the U.S., health officials said Saturday.
The Dallas County Health and Human Services department said a Dallas man in his 20s got COVID-19 that was caused by the variant known as SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7. He is currently stable and in isolation.
This is the first known case of the variant in Dallas County and the third in the state of Texas, according the health officials. The first case was reported in the Houston area on Jan. 7.
“The emergence of the strain B.1.1.7, while inevitable given the mobility of the modern world and the fact that we are a major transportation hub, means that there is a strain that is 70% more contagious in our community and it will grow quickly,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said.
“January and February are slated to be our highest months of COVID infection rate. If we don’t do all that we can now to renew our efforts to control spread, the new variant will cause an overrun of our hospitals and lengthen the the time before we can beat COVID and return to pre-COVID activities,” he added.
Health officials said the variant “appears to spread more easily and quickly than other variants.” However, the symptoms don’t appear to be more serious, according to health officials.
Health officials believe through evidence that the current vaccines are effective against the variant.
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