The new, likely more contagious variant of the coronavirus has reached New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
A Saratoga County man in his 60s tested positive for the new variant, Cuomo said on a conference call Monday afternoon, according to NBC New York. The variant known as B117 was first detected in the UK last month.
The Saratoga man had no recent history of travel, Cuomo said in a tweet. That means he likely contracted the virus through community spread.
While the new variant is more contagious than the virus that has circulated in the US so far, it does not appear to be more deadly or resistant to vaccines.
The new variant was found in Southern California last week and has been discovered in Colorado and Florida.
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