Baylor School research scientists believe they’ve identified the new, seemingly more contagious U.K. COVID-19 variant in the Chattanooga region after in-house laboratory testing revealed mutations in two different coronavirus patient samples collected in December.
If their findings are confirmed, it would mean the variant – which appears to spread much more quickly but does not cause more serious or deadly illness than other COVID-19 variants – has been circulating in Southeast Tennessee since before it was formally identified in the United States.
The U.K. variant, known as B.1.1.7, was first documented nationally by Colorado health officials on Dec. 29 and has been reported in at least five states, including in Georgia on Tuesday. B.1.1.7 is sweeping across England and is blamed for fueling the country’s latest coronavirus resurgence.
Tennessee Department of Health spokesperson Elizabeth Hart said via email that as of Wednesday “there are no confirmed cases of the new variant in our state.”
However, experts have said it’s likely that the U.K. variant is more widespread and has been circulating in the U.S. for some time without being identified, especially since the first confirmed patient in Colorado had no history of out-of-state travel. Georgia’s first confirmed patient also had no travel history, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Georgia Department of Public Health.