2 More Cases Of UK Coronavirus Variant Found In Westchester

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Weeks after the first case of the UK variant of the coronavirus was detected in New York, two more cases have been confirmed in Westchester County, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at his Friday coronavirus briefing.

The first identified in Westchester was announced Sunday.

There are now 25 confirmed cases across the state. New cases identified include two in Westchester and one in Brooklyn, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control predicts that the UK strain will be the dominant strain in the United States by the spring, Cuomo said.

"When you talk about possible nightmares this is a possible nightmare," he had said Monday.

The UK variant is more contagious than the regular coronavirus. Its more rapid spread led UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce sweeping lockdowns to combat it. Experts say it could be up to 70 times more contagious, which means it can spread much more easily.

New York Health Commissioner Howard A. Zucker said during the Friday briefing that while evidence isn't strong that the UK strain is more lethal, "the fact that it's more transmissable means more hospitalizations and risk of more deaths."

The first case of the UK variant in New York, discovered at the end of 2020, was a Saratoga Springs man who was also in his 60s. He worked in a jewelry store where five other people had tested positive for the virus. Only two of them had the UK strain, though.

There are other variants in South Africa, Brazil and possibly in the United States but that data is still being gathered, David Cennimo, a pediatric infectious disease expert and assistant professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told Patch.

More recently, novel variants are being reported developing within the United States.