No variant viruses found in Winfield prison cluster of COVID-19, KDHE says

A fast-spreading cluster of COVID-19 cases at a Kansas prison was not the result of a coronavirus variant, public health officials said.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment confirmed Thursday that none of the cases connected to the outbreak at Winfield Correctional Facility were variant viruses.

“After conducting testing in the Winfield Correctional Facility, neither of the CDC variants were found,” KDHE spokesperson Kristi Zears said in an email. “We will continue monitoring, evaluating and working with the CDC.”

She did not directly respond to a question of whether any variants have been found elsewhere in the state.

A few variants have been identified around the world, including in the United States. Some variants spread more rapidly than the original virus.

It was the rapid spread in the Winfield prison that alerted state health officials to the situation, KDHE Secretary Lee Norman said on Tuesday. For that reason, they decided to conduct further testing to identify any variants.

The active outbreak at the prison has had 43 new cases in the past two weeks, according to the KDHE’s cluster list.

This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 4:58 PM.