Have new Coronavirus strains arrived in Orange County?

UC Irvine epidemiologist Sanghyuk Shin said he’s concerned about the variants originally discovered in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Shin said the UK variant “basically just took over in a very short period of time. … Shin’s colleague, UC Irvine epidemiologist Andrew Noymer echoed similar concerns about the new strain. “There’s a lot that we still don’t know about the variants. I mean b117 has been detected in San Diego County and Los Angeles County. So I think it’s a pretty good bet that it’s here,” Noymer said.