Identification of Variant Strains Slow as State Cases Rise

By Jhoana T. Merino-Martinez

News Editor

The identification of variant COVID-19 strains is lacking while cases soar in the state, NJ Spotlight reports.

While a daily average of 3,000 new positive cases are reported daily in New Jersey, only around 2% of the tests are screened for variants, the source continues.

This means that we only have part of the picture of how the pandemic is affecting the state — and that’s a crack in the road of progress.

Even with the restrictions in research, there is an outstanding rise in mutant strains of the virus. In mid-February there were 50 cases of one variant, which jumped to 465 cases of up to seven different variations — making it a 830% rise in the state over the last five weeks, NJ Spotlight reports.

“We have a lot of work to do, not only here in New Jersey, but also nationally as far as identification of variants,” state epidemiologist Dr. Christina Tan said in a statement to NJ Spotlight.

Identifying variant COVID-19 strains are crucial, especially since these strands are infamous for being more transmissible, the CDC reports.

COVID-19 Numbers

There were 4,096 new positive COVID-19 cases in New Jersey, with 451 new cases in Bergen County.