TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As Florida officials ramped up vaccinations against the coronavirus, concern spread Tuesday over a new, more contagious variant that could be making a foothold in the country’s third-most populous state.
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As of the weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Florida now has 46 confirmed cases of the more transmissible strain of COVID-19 that was first detected in the United Kingdom in December and has since begun to spread globally.
California had been the U.S. epicenter of the new strain, but CDC statistics show that its 40 cases has since been eclipsed by Florida.
Martin County had the first confirmed case of the variant in Florida, which was announced Dec. 31.