December 29, 2020 02:31 PM UTC

Highly Contagious COVID-19 Variant Found in Colorado

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• by: Colorado Pols

As The Washington Post reports:

Colorado officials on Tuesday reported the first known case in the United States of a person infected with the mutation-laden coronavirus variant that has been circulating rapidly across much of the United Kingdom and has led to a lockdown of much of southern England.

The case involves a male in his 20s who is currently in isolation in Elbert County and has no travel history, according to a tweet from the office of Gov. Jared Polis.

“The individual has no close contacts identified so far but public health officials are working to identify other potential cases and contacts through thorough contact tracing interviews,” the tweet said.

Researchers have now detected the more transmissible variant in viral samples in at least 17 countries outside the United Kingdom, including as far away as Australia and South Korea, as of Tuesday afternoon. Officials in Canada had previously said they identified two cases, the first in North America.

Wear a mask. Please.