Gundersen researchers sequenced 15 regional coronavirus samples Wednesday, finding just over half attributed to the Delta variant.
Dr. Paraic Kenny, genome researcher with Gundersen Health System, has been decoding the genes in samples from area COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in spring 2020, and since variants began circulating has been tracking the number of cases of each strain.
The last batch sequenced in mid-June showed one case of the Delta variant, which is quickly spreading in the U.S. and other countries and is deemed more contagious and more severe than the Alpha version.
On July 7, of 15 cases from the tristate area Kenny sequenced, eight were from the Delta variant, which is concerning but not necessarily surprising given the CDC this week named Delta the dominant strain nationwide, with some midwestern states reporting some 80% of new cases due to Delta.
Wisconsin as of July 8 had confirmed 83 Delta cases, per the DHS.
Of the 15 cases sequenced, only two were from La Crosse County, neither of which were identified as Delta. Two of the cases were from other counties in Wisconsin, four were from Iowa and two from Minnesota.
The sequencing, Kenny believes, “indicates the efficient introduction and spread of this particular substrain into our region. Importantly, most of the cases we sequenced are known to have additional positive household or extended family members so the true number of Delta cases in the region is definitely higher than the eight we have sequence information on.”
