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Manatee County leaders have asked state health officials to investigate whether a more contagious and dangerous strain of coronavirus killed two county workers and left three others in hospital.
The two workers died of the COVID-19 virus within four days last week. All five employees of the county’s IT department worked on the seventh floor of the Manatee County Administration Building in downtown Bradenton.
County Administrator Scott Hobbs said none of the workers who tested positive for the virus had been vaccinated. On Monday, he said, a sixth provincial employee had been diagnosed with the coronavirus as well as three workers in the Port of Manatee.
Hobbs, who has a master’s degree in epidemiology, said the spread and death of two of the initial five cases suggested a variant of COVID-19. The Florida Department of Health has been asked to confirm this.
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“As an epidemiologist, I don’t think what we saw is the same SARS-CoV-2 we were dealing with a year ago,” he said. “It appears to be highly contagious and has a high mortality rate, at least from what we’ve seen.”
The Manatee outbreak comes as data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a delta variant is spreading in Florida with at least 72 confirmed cases detected in May. Federal health officials and the World Health Organization have classified delta as a “variable of concern.” It is thought to be more contagious, and in the UK, where the variant is quickly becoming mainstream, has had a higher rate of hospitalization, according to The Guardian.
The presence of variants can only be determined by performing a genetic analysis of the virus from positive test samples, a process known as sequencing. Only a small percentage of positive tests are sequenced. In Florida, more than 40,000 cases have been sequenced and published since January 2020.
Florida’s 72 cases came from a sample of 5,552 positive tests conducted over the four-week period through May 22.
Michael Teng, associate professor at the University of South Florida and expert in immunology and vaccine development [ University of South Florida ]
The variant may be at least 50 percent more transmissible than regular COVID-19, said Michael Teng, a virologist and immunologist at the University of South Florida School of Medicine.
Her presence has raised concerns that the number of coronavirus cases in Florida may rise again. Of particular concern, Teng said, is that people who skip their second dose of the two-vaccine Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may still be susceptible to the new strain.
Only 41 percent of Florida’s population is fully vaccinated, according to state data.
RELATED: Florida added 10,629 cases of coronavirus, including 290 deaths, in the past week
“One dose will not give you the full amount of immunity you need to protect against the delta variant,” Teng said. “The second dose is the thing that will put you over the top.”
Manatee County officials expect to have sequencing test results for its latest cases next week. The county government headquarters reopened Monday after every surface of the nine-storey building was disinfected, cleaned and fumigated.
Health officials conducted contract tracing and identified the employee in the IT department classified as patient zero, the term for the first person in an infected group. They were able to confirm that two vaccinated employees who had contracted the infected workers tested negative for the coronavirus.
Hopes said this was a tough time for staff at the center. The two people who died were longtime employees and known to many who worked at the center.
“It’s a mixture of fear and sadness,” he said of the mood among his staff.
Hobbs said many county workers and building visitors wore masks on Monday. A number of employees have also been tested and get their first vaccine.
A rapid test for anyone who wants it will be available on Tuesday and a vaccination clinic scheduled on Friday.
“This outbreak specifically showed the effectiveness of the vaccine,” Hobbs said. “We know individuals in this department who have been fully vaccinated and have not contracted the virus.”
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