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The first Massachusetts person to get B.1.1.7 is a Boston woman in her 20s. The variant has also been discovered in New York and Connecticut.
She first became ill in early January and received a positive COVID-19 test. A genetic sample was sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further analysis and that’s when the variant was discovered, according to the state Department of Public Health.
The woman, who is not being identified, had recently traveled to the United Kingdoms - a hotbed for the COVID-19 variant. Following an interview with health agents, people the woman came in contact with are being notified and encouraged to get tested.
So far, there have been 88 COVID-19 variant cases from 14 states nationwide.
The concern with the COVID-19 variant is that it is even easier to spread than the highly contagious COVID-19, health officials said.
Though a new COVID-19 variant has reached Massachusetts, health officials said people should continue to follow best practices for stopping COVID-19 - 6-foot social distancing, wear face masks, stay home when sick, and get tested if you think you may have COVID-19 or have come in contact with someone who has.
Nationwide, there have been 23.65 million COVID-19 cases and nearly 400,000 deaths reported, the CDC said.
The national COVID-19 rate per 100,000 Americans is 66.8.
In Massachusetts, 448,311 cases of COVID-19 have been reported as well as 21,829 deaths, according to the Public Health Department.
Right now there are 98,476 people in Massachusetts with COVID-19.
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