New, Highly Contagious Brazil Coronavirus Variant Spotted In CT

CONNECTICUT — The highly contagious Brazilian coronavirus variant has been reported in Connecticut for the first time.

A Guilford resident tested positive for the variant, officials said. The announcement was made on the eve of Connecticut’s large reopening to full capacity at restaurants and many other businesses.

Connecticut is in a race against time to vaccinate as much of the state’s population as more contagious coronavirus variants like the Brazil one crop up, officials said.

"The U.K. variant, the South African variant and now the Brazilian variant have been detected in this state," said Dr. Albert Ko, of the Yale School of Public Health, during Gov. Ned Lamont's Thursday news conference.

“We are in this race against time with these new variants, the potential public health threat that they pose,” Ko said. “We are making really important progress on vaccination.”

Lamont called Europe’s situation a “tale of two cities." Places like the United Kingdom are opening up in large part thanks to successful vaccine campaigns. At the same time, places like Paris and Rome are going back into lockdown as cases rapidly grow and vaccine rollout stalls.

France made some mistakes that caused them to play catch-up now, Ko said. The country reopened too quickly after their December surge and its vaccine rollout hasn’t had the same level of success as the United States or U.K.

“They don’t have that protective coverage,” Ko said. “Now here in Connecticut we’ve got that, or we are getting towards that, especially among those age groups above 75.”

Ko was concerned over the growing number of variants appearing across the world, with some like the U.K. variant projected to grow even more in Connecticut. Vaccines are less effective against some variants like the South African variant, but they still remain effective in preventing serious illness or death, according to health officials.

He advised Connecticut residents to keep using face masks and avoid large gatherings that can act as superspreader events.

Ko said he agrees with Connecticut’s reopening plan, which still calls for social distancing and mask use. He said it's possible because a large percentage of older residents are already vaccinated.

Around a third of Connecticut residents 16 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the state Department of Public Health.