New COVID Strain Prevalent In Upper Manhattan, Researchers Find

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — A new form of coronavirus carrying troubling mutations has seen a significant uptick in New York City and the Northeast, according to two teams of researchers that announced findings this week.

The new variant, called B.1.526, carries a mutation similar to the variant first seen in South Africa that allows the virus to somewhat evade vaccines.

The variant was first seen in the city in November, but by the middle of February, it accounted for roughly one in four viral sequences appearing in a database shared by scientists, according to the New York Times.

"We observed a steady increase in the detection rate from late December to mid-February, with an alarming rise to 12.7% in the past two weeks," a team at Columbia University Medical Center wrote in a report not yet published, according to CNN.

The study is not yet peer-reviewed nor published in a scientific journal.

However, the team from Columbia University has also found information tying the new variant to Upper Manhattan.

Columbia researchers sequenced over 1,000 samples from patients at their medical center at 622 West 168th Street.

The team found that 12 percent of people with the coronavirus were carrying the variant containing the mutation E484K, which is what allows the virus to dodge vaccines to an extent, according to the New York Times.

Here's what they said about the demographics of that 12 percent group:

"While the majority of patients were found in neighborhoods close to the hospital — particularly Washington Heights and Inwood — there were several others scattered throughout the metropolitan area," said Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, to the New York Times.

Cases of the new variant were also seen in Westchester, the Bronx, Queens, Lower Manhattan, and Brooklyn, according to Ho — "So it seems to be widespread. It's not a single outbreak," he told the Times.

The research team also said patients carrying the mutation were about six years older on average and more likely to have been hospitalized.

It's also important to mention that it's possible more Washington Heights and Inwood residents carried the mutation because that's where the hospital was able to pull the most patients from due to proximity.

Read More: A New Coronavirus Variant Is Spreading in New York, Researchers Report