Most cases of the Brazilian species occur in Hawaii, in the county of Maui

Waikiki Physicians Lab technician Heather Hicks found results of a rapid COVID-19 antigen test after arriving on May 4 at Kahului Airport. The province launched the program in hopes of determining the number of travel cases brought. On Monday, 61,848 passengers were tested on arrival, with 25 positive antigen test results, two of which were positive during the confirmatory test. Maui News / KEHAULANI CERIZO PHOTOS

The municipality of Maui, which recently faced more cases of COVID-19 variants per capita than other islands, is now seeing most of the variant cases first detected in Brazil, which, according to health officials, are more contagious and more resistant. For antibodies.

The P.1 variant was found in 36 samples in the state, 22 of which were in Maui County and 13 in Oahu, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the State Department for laboratories at the state health department. None of them are found in the counties of Kauai or Hawaii.

State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kimble said at a press conference Wednesday that the P.1 variant is “From anxiety.”

“It has a higher transmissibility and needs higher antibody neutralization to overcome it, which means there will be greater anxiety that it will be infected again, even if it already has any strain of COVID.” This is Kemble.

Earlier this month, Maui’s managing director of health, Dr Mark Nishimoto, said the Brazilian variant replaces the California variant, which controlled Maui cases about a month ago.

Chelsea Vincent, lab technician at Waikiki Doctors, works at Kahului Airport during the Maui County Post-Arrival Examinations program launch on May 4. The municipality of Maui is now seeing most cases of the P.1 variant that was first detected in Brazil, according to the state’s health department, which released a report Wednesday showing that the P.1 variant was found in 36 samples in the state, 22 of them in Maui County. And 13 in Oahu and none in Kauai or Hawaii.

He said the California variant is 20 percent more transmissible than the original COVID-19 virus, while the Brazilian strain is “Much, more transferable than the California variant.”

Health Department officials said Wednesday that the worrisome variants of COVID-19 account for a higher percentage of total COVID-19 cases in Hawaii than ever before and that the percentage continues to rise. The authorities stressed the vaccines to prevent the spread of the variants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies variants of concern due to their features, which include increased transmissibility, decreased neutralization of antibodies generated during a previous infection or vaccination, and increased disease severity, according to the report.

The director of the department of government laboratories, Dr. Edward Desmond, said the variants of concern now make up more than 90 percent of the genomes his lab has sequenced.

Since June last year, the department has taken samples from across the state and genome sequenced for COVID-19 variants.

“We discovered our first variants in January, and in just four months, they replaced the original COVID-19 strains as the most frequently found COVID-19 strains,” Desmond said in a press release.

In Hawaii, the most common variable of concern is the California variant B.1.429 with 631 cumulative cases detected, followed by variant B.1.1.7 that was first found in the UK with 304 cases, variant B. 1.427 from California with 40 cases, Variable P.1 was first detected in Brazil with 36 cases and variant B.1.351 was detected in South Africa with 12 cases.

Maui County has seen 242 cases of variant B.1.429 in California, 22 cases of variant B.1.429 in Brazil, 14 cases of variant in the United Kingdom, and three cases of variant B.1.427 in California.

Oahu recorded 261 cases of the California variant B.1.429, 201 cases of the UK variant, 23 cases of the California variant B.1.427, 13 cases of the Brazilian variant and 11 cases of the South African variant.

Hawaii had 29 cases, both of the UK variant and the California B.1.429 variant, plus two cases of the California B.1.427 variant.

In Kauai County, the California variant B.1.429 was found in 25 cases, while the UK variant was detected in three cases and the California variant B.1.427 was found in two cases.

The most common form has changed in recent months. In March and early April, California variant B.1.429 was the predominant strain, with 631 times detected in the state by sampling.

But since late April, the British variant B.1.1.7 has become the most prevalent strain in Hawaii, accounting for at least 61 percent of the variants prevalent in the islands and detected in 304 cases, the Department of Health said.

Kimball said during the press conference that the British variant is more transmissible than the California variants and can cause serious illness and hospitalization if a person is not vaccinated. The variant does not appear to escape the vaccine-induced antibodies.

Health officials blamed variables for the increase in cases and settlements in Maui County during the winter and early spring, including an outbreak at the Maui Community Correctional Center that began in February and ended in mid-February. April, after two employees and more than 90 inmates tested positive for the virus.

Kimble said the situation in Maui County “This shows that there was a community event with the transition of B.1.429 in the beginning and then the acquisition of B.1.1.7, so maybe we should have imported these new variants, probably from the continent here, and once they are created in the community, you can see how quickly these spread Variables. “

“We have struggled with high case rates in Maui for several months between January and March, and this is finally starting to decline, which is really encouraging.” This is Kemble. “But it is showing some difficulty in trying to stop sending the replacement.”

* You can reach Melissa Tangi on [email protected]