Georgia health officials confirmed the first case of the U.K. coronavirus variant in an 18-year-old male with no travel history.
In a press release sent out Tuesday, officials said the patient is isolating at home and contact tracing was underway. The discovery was made during an analysis of a specimen sent by a Georgia pharmacy to a commercial lab.
It was not yet clear how the patient contracted the variant. "The emergence of this variant in our state should be a wake-up call for all Georgians," Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the state’s department of health, said in the press release.