The first case of the South Africa COVID-19 variant was identified in Washington, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
The case was found in King County. The person tested positive on January 29 but it is unclear if the person recently traveled.
DOH said the person was not able to be reached through contact tracing efforts.
According to DOH, it is not known if the South Africa variant is more severe and it is not clear if it spreads quicker. This variant does reduce the effectiveness of some vaccines.
In addition, 19 more cases of the variant found in the United Kingdom were also identified in Washington. There are 39 known cases of the U.K. variant.
The U.K. strain spreads quicker than other variants which could lead to more cases, according to DOH. Currently, available vaccines should provide good protection against this strain.
Currently, Washington has no known cases of the variant that originated in Brazil.
