Woman, 40, dies of Brit mutant Covid strain amid fears ‘highly infectious’ strains will spark explosion of cases
A MOM from Texas has died from the ultra-contagious mutant British strain of Covid-19.
Felicia Parker, 40, passed away at a Houston hospital on Saturday, five days after she was admitted with breathing problems.
Testing confirmed the mom-of-two had contracted the UK variant of the coronavirus, known as B 1.1.7 and dubbed ‘Super Covid’ because it is feared to be up to 70 percent more transmissible.
The Evangelist minister first fell ill over the holidays, and relatives say they are clueless as to how she contracted the UK strain of the disease, which has now spread to at least 12 states.
Relative Romeka James told news network KTRK that Parker first fell ill over the holidays and had recently been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
“This is serious. This is not just another person. This is someone’s mother, someone’s sister,” Ms James said.
“We have to be really safe, we have to follow the CDC guidelines. It’s not just another number. It’s somebody.
“She was admitted to the hospital last Monday. She was gone already by Saturday.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up for Parker, who did not have life insurance, and relatives are organising a funeral for the “amazing and loving” woman on January 23.
One person, paying tribute to Parker, wrote: “She always had a warm smile and an encouraging word to share with everyone she encountered. A mighty and powerful woman of God that wasn’t ashamed to share her faith.”
Another described her as an “angel”.
At least 76 ‘Super Covid’ infections have been detected in 12 states, according to latest national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The states are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Maryland, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
But while the strain is more transmissible, doctors say it is not more deadly, although it is now likely to be present in more states.
Other variants of Covid-19, originally detected in South Africa and Japan, have also shown up in the US.
Critics have blamed US health agencies for failing to adequately detect and track these new strains that have made their way into the country.
We don’t have sufficient genetic epidemiology capacity or capability in the US
Lane Warmbrod
Given the B. 1.1.7 strain has been found in 12 states, it is likely to be present in more, says Lane Warmbrod, a biosecurity analyst at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.
“It is hard to know how widespread the variant is because we don’t have sufficient genetic epidemiology capacity or capability in the US,” she told the New Scientist.
The variant probably accounts for about one per cent of cases in the US today, estimates Eric Topol at Scripps Research Translational Institute in California.
But, “surveillance is extremely poor,” he adds.
The US has also now detected its own homegrown ‘super-Covid’ variants that are more infectious than the most common coronavirus types.
One of the new, more infectious variants has already become dominant in Columbus, Ohio, where it was discovered.
This unique US variant has three mutations not seen in the others from the UK and South Africa.
“This new Columbus strain has the same genetic backbone as earlier cases we’ve studied, but these three mutations represent a significant evolution,” Dr Dan Jones, vice chair of the division of molecular pathology at Ohio State, said in a statement.
“We know this shift didn’t come from the UK or South African branches of the virus.”
Researchers at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center have been sequencing the virus since March, but have since drastically scaled up their efforts to sequence hundreds of samples per week, Dr Jones added.
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“We are now in a period where the virus is changing quite substantially,” he said.
“This is the moment, as we’re starting to see changes, where vaccination is being introduced and where the virus has been in the human population for some months, where we do want to be looking out very carefully for the emergence of not just single mutations, but new strains that have multiple mutations.”
US deaths from Covid-19 totalled 3,922 on Wednesday, with the death toll hitting a huge 384,804 across the country.