Santa Clara County Detects South African Variant COVID-19 Case

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — California's first two known COVID-19 cases tied to the South African variant were detected in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, health officials announced Wednesday.

The B.1.351 variant is not thought to cause more severe illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But emerging variants may spread more easily among people.

County health officials learned of the case Wednesday morning after Stanford University's lab detected the variants. These were the first reported cases of the variant in the state, but it's likely that the variant is circulating elsewhere in the Bay Area, Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County health officer and public health director, said in a Wednesday news conference.

"We have a limited picture," added Dr. Nicholas Moss, Alameda County health officer, in the news conference.

Labs do not test each specimen for variants, but efforts are underway across the state to improve such testing, he added. The public can expect to see more reports of coronavirus variants in coming weeks.

Read more: CA Detects First Cases Of South African Coronavirus Variant

Santa Clara County officials believe the patient in their county contracted the coronavirus after traveling out of the country in mid-January. The patient followed the state's mandatory travel guidelines and quarantined with one other person in their household upon returning to the Bay Area.

Several days later, the person began feeling ill and went to get tested, Cody said. The other person in the home also developed symptoms but was not tested.

Cody believed there was no opportunity for the variant to spread in the community, as the affected household took care to follow state orders to isolate and even ordered food for delivery.

Little is known about the Alameda County case. The person was diagnosed with COVID-19 in January and is no longer infectious, Moss said. It's unclear if Alameda County was able to make contact with the patient as of Wednesday afternoon.

Both cases remain under investigation. Officials declined to share the specific communities in which the patients reside.

COVID-19 infection rates are improving in the state but remain higher than their summer peak, officials said. People are encouraged to avoid travel, wear masks, maintain social distancing, stay home as much as possible and remain up to date on coronavirus vaccine opportunities in their area.

The CDC said Wednesday that new data shows that wearing two masks or tighter-fitting masks can help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Learn more here..