PEKIN, Ill. — The first two known Illinois cases of the United Kingdom variant of COVID-19 were detected at Reditus Labs in Pekin.
The positive tests came from DuPage County. 12 cases of the variant, called V70X, had already been found across the country when the two from DuPage were detected.
Reditus this week began using a new platform called Illumina NextSeq, which CEO Dr. Aaron Rossi credited with assisting the lab detect the new mutation.
“What this [detection] tells us is the virus is consistently mutating at a more rapid pace,” Rossi said. “The general consensus is the mutations are more contagious than the earlier strain of the virus.”
That said, Rossi said there’s been no proof vaccines don’t cover the mutations.
Reditus tests 85% of all Illinois specimens taken for COVID-19 detection.
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