Posted
By Thadeus Greenson@ThadeusGreenson
on Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 4:39 PM
Humboldt County Public Health confirmed 16 new COVID-19 cases today, making 84 so far this week, while also reporting that the federal government has confirmed the first case of the B.1.1.7. variant, commonly referred to as the "UK variant," in Humboldt County.
Today's cases were confirmed after laboratories processed 176 samples with a test positivity rate of 9.1 percent, bringing the county's cumulative case total too 3,799.
The discovery of the UK variant locally is not surprising given how widespread it is in other parts of the state and country, but it is cause for concern because mutations on the virus' spike protein make it more contagious.