key: cord-0948244-v78hshij authors: Martin Webb, Lindsey; Matzinger, Shannon; Grano, Christopher; Kawasaki, Breanna; Stringer, Ginger; Bankers, Laura; Herlihy, Rachel title: Identification of and Surveillance for the SARS-CoV-2 Variants B.1.427 and B.1.429 — Colorado, January–March 2021 date: 2021-05-14 journal: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7019e2 sha: 03ec94f6de74bab421428fb79adcd804141d010b doc_id: 948244 cord_uid: v78hshij The B.1.427 and B.1.429 variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, were first described in Southern California on January 20, 2021 (1); on March 16 they were designated variants of concern* (2). Data on these variants are limited, but initial reports suggest that, compared with other lineages, they might be more infectious (1,2), cause more severe illness (2), and be less susceptible to neutralizing monoclonal antibody products such as bamlanivimab, an investigational treatment for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 (1-3). On January 24, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) identified the first Colorado case of COVID-19 attributed to these variants. B.1.427 and B.1.429 were considered a single variant described as CAL.20C or B.1.427/B.1.429 in the 20C clade (1,3); in this report "B.1.427/B.1.429" refers to B.1.427 or B.1.429 lineage, including those reported as B.1.427/B.1.429 without further differentiation. * A variant for which there is evidence of increased transmissibility, more severe disease, reduction in neutralization by vaccine-or infection-induced antibodies, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures. † https://artic.network/ncov-2019 § https://www.protocols.io/view/sars-cov-2-sequencing-on-illumina-misequsing-arti-bffyjjpw ¶ https://github.com/CDPHE Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (Pangolin)** (5) and Nextstrain's Nextclade tools (6) were used to assign lineage designations to each assembled genome. CDPHE conducted enhanced case investigation and contact tracing, including reinterview of previously interviewed persons, upstream contact tracing, increased testing of asymptomatic contacts, resource coordination to assist persons with successful isolation or quarantine, and involvement of CDPHE's Cultural Navigation program, which ensures culturally informed communication with immigrants, refugees, and other groups that are disproportionally affected by COVID-19. † Administration revoked the Emergency Use Authorization for monotherapy with this product.*** Establishing a state public health laboratory-based sequencing program and sentinel surveillance system in Colorado and merging laboratory and epidemiologic data has improved SARS-CoV-2 variant situational awareness and efforts to control the spread of variants, and also has provided data to guide Colorado clinicians and contributed timely data to inform important national clinical policy decisions. Given delays in sequencing results and increasing proportions of variant cases, all COVID-19 cases should be considered potential variant cases upon initial report. *** h t t p s : / / w w w. f d a . g o v / n e w s -e v e n t s / p r e s s -a n n o u n c e m e n t s / coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-revokes-emergency-use-authorizationmonoclonal-antibody-bamlanivimab Corresponding author: Lindsey Martin Webb, lindsey.webb@state.co.us. 1 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Emergence of a novel SARS-CoV-2 strain in Southern California, USA US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC Acquisition of the L452R mutation in the ACE2-binding interface of Spike protein triggers recent massive expansion of SARS-Cov-2 variants Investigation of novel SARS-CoV-2 variant: variant of concern 202012/01 A dynamic nomenclature proposal for SARS-CoV-2 lineages to assist genomic epidemiology Nextstrain: real-time tracking of pathogen evolution All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.