90 Cases Of UK Coronavirus Variant Found In Michigan Prison

IONIA, MI — Ninety cases of a faster-spreading variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the United Kingdom have been reported in a Michigan prison less than a week after the prison's first positive case of the variant led officials to boost COVID-19 testing.

State health officials said Tuesday evening that 90 people at the Bellamy Creek Correction Facility in Ionia tested positive for B.1.1.7. Of the 90 positive cases, two are prison employees and 88 are inmates, officials said.

The results of more than 100 more tests from the prison are pending, officials said.

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The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said prisoners and employees at the Ionia facility would be tested daily as opposed to weekly after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus variant Wednesday.

Related: Coronavirus Variant From U.K. Found In 10 Michigan Counties

The state reported its first case of the coronavirus variant on Jan. 16, when a Washtenaw County woman tested positive for B.1.1.7 after she traveled to the United Kingdom, where the variant was widely identified, officials said.

Many of the early cases had ties to the University of Michigan, prompting the university to pause its athletics for two weeks.

Officials said B.1.1.7. is believed to be more contagious, but there has been no indication that it is more severe than the main COVID-19 virus that has been circulating across the United States for months.