ANN ARBOR, MI — The more contagious variant of COVID-19, known as B.1.1.7, was recently identified in a cluster of University of Michigan students.
The school learned of the additional cases over the weekend and fear there could be more discovered in the next several days, university officials said in a campus-wide email Sunday, Jan. 24.
The variant strain was identified as a result of regular university testing followed by additional testing in UM labs, the school said.
As of Monday morning, all eight people with cases of the variant in Washtenaw County have been associated with UM.
All of the cases have been investigated and the individuals and their contacts are currently in isolation or quarantine, officials said.
UM has tested a broad circle of students associated with cases or contacts, and are also seeing additional clusters of the regular COVID-19 virus in the campus community, officials said Sunday.
There have been 97 COVID-19 cases at UM in the last 28 days, state data shows. In Washtenaw County, there have been 1,108 cases in the most recent two week period from Jan. 7 to Jan. 20. During that time, 3% of those individuals were hospitalized and nine people have died.
State and local public health officials are working closely with the university to carefully consider proactive and additional mitigation measures to address the emergence of this more contagious B.1.1.7 strain on campus, the university said.
The announcement of the additional variant cases comes two days after Michigan athletics shut down for 2 weeks as a response to a recent COVID-19 outbreak.
“The university is working to implement state recommendations regarding athletics, and we applaud the student-athletes, staff, and leadership of the department for their rigorous testing and public health protocols,” university officials said.
“Their testing regimen is helping us address and contain the variant at UM, and the information we’re learning may be able to help our entire community.”
While health officials are still working to learn more about the variant, new information suggests that this strain might be more likely to cause severe illness, officials said.
It is imperative to be extra careful while in public, wear face coverings, avoid in-person gatherings and seek resources like testing, officials said.
“These measures are effective, but there is less margin for error with this more contagious version of COVID-19,” officials said.
The university is encouraging anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19, has been recently exposed, or who has recently traveled to a place where a new variant is circulating to be tested.
University officials will continue to monitor members of the UM community who have tested positive for the COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.7, with the Washtenaw County Health Department and the Michigan Department of Human Health Services.
The first Michigan case of the COVID-19 variant was identified in a Washtenaw County woman on Jan. 16 after she returned from the UK, where the virus variant originated.
Washtenaw health leaders are recommending immediate COVID-19 testing for anyone in the following locations at the specified times:
- Sunday, Jan. 17 at the Meijer on Ann Arbor Saline Rd., Ann Arbor MI from 9 to 10 a.m.
- Sunday, Jan. 17 at Briarwood Mall, 100 Briarwood Circle, Ann Arbor MI from 1 to 2 p.m.
“We continue to check new and prior tests for the variant, and are likely to see more cases,” officials said.
READ MORE FROM THE ANN ARBOR NEWS:
Contagious coronavirus variant identified in Michigan
Three more COVID-19 variant cases identified in Michigan, health leaders urge testing
2 more cases of COVID-19 variant tied to Washtenaw County woman
What Michiganders should know about new coronavirus variant B.1.1.7