186 COVID Variants Confirmed In Montgomery County

NORRISTOWN, PA — The number of variants of COVID-19 in Montgomery County is now at 186, officials said on Wednesday, as the presence of more contagious mutations of the virus continues to expand.

Variants have been attributed by experts as part of the reason for the fourth wave of the virus, which has cause case numbers to rise in Montgomery County and across Pennsylvania. Those rises appeared to moderate themselves a bit this past week, however, and experts are hopeful a plateau has been reached.

Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh reminded the public that "only a fraction of the samples are being tested for the variants," as complex genomic sequencing is required to detect them. No state government facilities have the capability, so universities and private labs are doing limited tested.

Of the 186 variants, 170 are of the most widespread U.K. variant, B.1.1.7. Of the remaining 16, there are four other variants that have been detected in the county.

The 170 number does reflect a significant increase from last week, when officials announced 110 confirmed cases.

Authorities estimate that as many as half of all Pennsylvania's new cases of coronavirus since Feb. 1 could be due to variants.