Here is the British variant updated visualization in Illinois. We continue to be the only ones that we know of that are publishing this for now.
COVID Variants Spread in Illinois and what this means
We are at it again. March 5 is a milestone day in IL, with the arrival of P1 Brazil COVID-19 variant. This means that all 3 variants are now here in the state, and one, the British variant, B.1.1.7 is spreading quickly. However, the data is lacking completely on what’s really happening, what it means for the reopening phases, and what it means for the current and next school year.
Fun fact, we were the first ones to publish the IL doubling rates in March one year ago https://www.mage.education/news/2020/3/19/coronavirus-stem-part2. Before any paper. Why are we having a moment of deja vu? Look, we are the first ones to publish a B.1.1.7 graph, below. We shouldn’t be, but we are. And it’s terrifying.
When COVID-19 arrived in Illinois, we had little to test for it and identify it, and there were single cases for 1.5 months, eerily, until March 7. After that, in 2 weeks, the doubling rate became almost every 2 days. Currently, the doubling rate of B.1.1.7 in Illinois is every 2 weeks, but it’s only been detected for 1.5 months AT ALL. So, it’s spreading FASTER, or our data view is poor. Or both.
Here’s a petition to get the state to share more data on the variant spread. http://chng.it/5mDzmJvhtr. Please sign and share. This petition covers vaccination efficacy on local variants, variance RT rates, updating phased reopening with variant and vaccine efficacy metrics, and reinfection data tracking.
Useful links:
Variant tracker: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/coronavirus-variant-tracker.html - not much data here, or anywhere else yet, but it’s helpful to highlight that in South Africa, the AstraZeneca’s vaccine is not used because it’s not considered effective against their dominant variant.
Covid Variants and significance: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00564-4
CDC variant data: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant-cases.html
Illinois variant page: http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/variants
