A highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in Britain has been discovered in Florida, health officials said on Thursday. The Florida Department of Health announced that a man in his 20s located in Martin County was the state’s first identified case of the variant. The man has no history of travel, officials said in a statement on Twitter. At this time, experts anticipate little to no impact on the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine.”Other cases of the variant have been identified this week in Colorado and California, and patients in those cases also did not report traveling outside of the United States. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, has not been known to lead to more severe cases of Covid-19, but it has been found to be more transmissible than previous forms, experts have said.

Source: New York Times January 01, 2021 14:48 UTC