MIAMI — The Florida Department of Health has reported the first case of the U.K. COVID-19 variant has been identified in the state.
On Thursday night, Florida’s DOH tweeted evidence of the first case was found in a man in his 20s who lives in Martin County. Health officials say the man has no history of travel. The DOH is working with the CDC on this investigation.
At this time, experts have said they anticipate little to no influence on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Health officials are encouraging everyone to continue practicing COVID-19 safety measures.
The U.K. strain, which is named for the United Kingdom where it was first detected, is a mutated and likely more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus because of its rapid spread across southern England. About half of the 350,000 known sequences of the virus come from the U.K.
It has since been discovered in other places including in two U.S. states: Colorado and California. In those states, public health officials appear to be collecting more samples of the virus and analyzing it to see if the genetics are changing.
On Thursday, the Florida DOH reported 17,192 COVID cases, the highest single-day tally ever recorded in the state. The state also saw near-record numbers of test results reported on Wednesday (about 180,000 people) and Thursday (about 166,500 people).
