A dose of the COVID-19 vaccine just as it is about to be administered during a vaccination event at Tucson Medical Center. January 2021.
The rapidly-spreading UK variant of the coronavirus has been detected in Pima County. The county's health director, Doctor Theresa Cullen, says four cases have been detected out of people diagnosed with COVID-19 about three to four weeks ago.
The delay is due to the time needed for genetic sequencing.
"We have no indication that we are having rapid increase in the UK variant within the community, meaning that we don't have an indication that the vast majority of our cases are due to that," Cullen said during a Thursday news conference.
Cullen also noted that COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen slightly in the last few days in the county, even as the number of new cases is dropping. She says it's too early to tell if there's any reason for the pattern.
"It may perhaps just be that a few people that have significant underlying disease managed to get infected and so have increased morbidity risk with that, and that's why they were admitted. I think it's something we need to keep a really close eye on over the next 7 to 14 days," she said.
The news came as Pima County prepared to vaccinate more age groups. The county Thursday opened up vaccine eligibility to everyone age 55 and older. State guidelines allow the county to expand eligibility once at least 55% of people 65 and over have received at least one shot. Dr. Cullen says that threshold was crossed early in the week.
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