Officials in Monterey County are concerned about what they say is a significant amount of a new California virus strain in the county.
According to the CDC, the California strains that were recently found are some of the most concerning they’ve seen.
The CDC considers a variant a “Variant of Concern” if there is evidence that it is more transmissible, causes more severe disease, causes a “significant reduction in neutralization” by antibodies created during a previous infection or vaccination, is less affected by treatment or vaccines or causes failures in diagnostic findings
The CDC reports that two such COVID variants have been found in California, and both are about 20% more transmissible and are less impacted by some treatments.
