Natasha Vaughn is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Columbia County Department of Health Fri., Mar. 5, reported the first confirmed case of the UK variant of COVID-19 in the county, according to DOH Director Jack Mabb. The UK variant of the virus has been determined to spread more easily than other variants, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Columbia County case was found through random testing by Wadsworth Center, the state laboratory in Albany. “There are other positives around here. The state Health Department is sequencing the DNA to see if there is more of a cluster or if it’s just the single person,” Mabb said. Not every COVID-19 test is screened for all strains of the virus, he said, adding it is likely Wadsworth Center randomly examines some of the tests for different strains. At present, the county has not reported any cases of the other variants of the virus, such as those first found in Brazil and South Africa. In Columbia County, 10,994 first doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered to residents and 5,235 of those people have received their second dose of the vaccine, according to the state’s COVID vaccine tracker website. In Greene County, 6,666 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 3,243 people have received both doses. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.