L452R Covid-19 variant identified in Humboldt County, no known impacts on vaccine effectiveness

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HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) — The L452R Covid-19 variant has been identified here in Humboldt County. It’s not the same as the B.1.1.7 variant detected in the U.K., but there still is some uncertainty around how the variant behaves.

“I would expect that potentially if this variant is found to be anything it might be more transmissible than others, but we don’t suspect that it’s causing any worse disease,” according to County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman.

Only one local case of the L452R variant has been detected, and zero deaths have been tied to it.

“The one found in Humboldt County was from November and it was only one single sample that has been found so far, many other samples have been looked at,” Hoffman adds.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the U.K. variant is spreading and could be the predominant strain in the U.S. by March. For both the U.K. variant, and one identified here in Humboldt, there are no known impacts on vaccine effectiveness.

“We have not heard that there is an effect of the efficacy of the vaccine, so we continue to plan vaccination events with that in mind,” Hoffman says.

Despite the emergence of new variants, Public Health’s messaging remains the same.

“We continue to, even with these highly contagious variants like the one from the U.K., things like masking, distancing, avoiding gatherings. Those are the things that will continue to slow the spread of that virus as well as the other variants we have seen,” Hoffman says.

Public Health has submitted samples to the state more recently to look for more variants of the virus. An update will be provided once those results are received.