Oklahoma is recognizing the need to track COVID-19 variants.
Dr. Jennifer Clark of Oklahoma State University’s ECHO Project pointed to new data on variants released by the Oklahoma State Department of Health in early May, but says this information isn’t where it needs to be yet.
"Oklahoma is still ramping up its sequencing abilities," said Clark. "The count, the raw count, is woefully below where we actually are, but we are starting to recognize where the variants are and we're getting ahead of them as articulated and seen with the outbreak in Cleveland County."
17 people recently tested positive for the B.1.617.2, or India variant, in Cleveland County.
Clark said there is a lot unknown about this variant, like how contagious it is and how sick it makes people.
"We don't know the severity of disease yet. Here in the United States we have higher levels of vaccination compared to India, and there has been impact on the severity of disease when you're vaccinated. Meaning, if you're vaccinated and you get infected with one of these variants, your manifestation of disease is much less severe."