BOISE, Idaho — As Idaho works to get the population vaccinated, new strains of the base COVID-19 virus have been spotted across the United States and studies show those strains could be more contagious.
Dr. David Pate, retired CEO of St. Luke’s Health and Idaho health expert, said it could be a matter of days before different strains of the coronavirus are found in the Gem State.
“We have not identified any of these in Idaho yet. I certainly would not be surprised if that announcement came in days that we have finally found one,” Pate said. “We know it’s been detected in every state around us except Montana.”
The process of identifying the strains is more extensive and Pate explained that it's good practice to assume they are here and to continue great COVID habits.
“To be able to identify it you have to do sequencing and that is where we actually do the genetic analysis of it and we don’t do that here in Idaho. There is only a few specialized labs that are currently doing that,” Pate said.
Pate said there are four variants of concern being studied closely, namely two strains commonly identified as the UK and South African variants. With that said, a common question is if the current vaccines are as effective against the new variants as they are against the common strain.
“We don’t know in all cases, but we do have really good news on the B117 or the UK strain. We don’t have complete evidence, but we have very good evidence that our immunity is only going to be a little less. It’s probably going to be very, very protective against this UK strain,” Pate said.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare echoes that sentiment saying, “The vaccines are currently expected to work very well against the variants, other than concerning information about one strain, originally detected in South Africa.”
Pate said there is also other good news about the vaccine’s interaction with new variants.
“It looks very promising that it will at least prevent you from getting really sick and having to go into the hospital or even dying,” Pate said.
A new recommendation from the CDC just published caught the attention of many, saying under their updated quarantine recommendations for vaccinated persons, fully vaccinated people no longer need to quarantine if they are exposed to someone with COVID.
Dr. Pate said that doesn’t mean that people can skip other precautions like distancing and wearing a mask.
“If you’re vaccinated and you get exposed you need to be careful, although we are not worried about you getting sick, you need to be careful to make sure you don’t accidentally make other people sick,” Pate said.
Pate added that it is still unclear if fully vaccinated people can spread the virus. Guidance can change quickly, Pate points to the new COVID-19 strains as a factor that could un-do that guidance.
“My guess is we may have to change our position as these stains or variants emerge to be much more prominent in our communities,” Pate said.
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