UK variant of COVID-19 detected in Milwaukee in late January

MILWAUKEE - The United Kingdom variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Milwaukee. City and county officials mentioned Tuesday, Feb. 16 that the variant -- B.1.1.7 -- was found at a south side testing site on Jan. 28. 

First identified in Wisconsin on Jan. 12, there have been five confirmed cases of the U.K. variant strain -- detected in Eau Claire, Milwaukee, and Waukesha counties. However, health officials say the number of cases out there is likely much higher.

"There’s mutation in the virus, and it made it more easy to transmit person to person," said Dr. Ben Weston with the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency. "Being more transmissible means more cases and being more severe, that means more hospitalizations and more deaths."

Milwaukee health officials said the variant, in the U.K., is doubling the number of people infected every 10 days.

"When the variant is just getting started like here in the United States and Wisconsin, you may find it in 1% or 2% of samples tested. As time goes on due to its increased transmissibility it may increase to 20, 40, 60 and so on to become the dominant strain," Weston said.

While these types of mutations are common, local officials now say it is more important than ever to social distance, wash your hands, and get tested if you have symptoms or were exposed to COVID-19.

"Even as we see trends overall decrease and improve in our community, in the background those numbers on the B.1.1.7 strain is increasing and at a dramatic pace," said Weston.

Milwaukee health officials said, as more data comes in, they will learn a lot more in the next month or so about how effective vaccines are against it. COVID-19 shots may be tweaked if variants get worse.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android