Well, this is the Christmas present that nobody wanted. There's another strain of COVID-19 that New York Hospitals are testing for.

This new strain was detected in the UK and it has caused Canada, France, and other countries to ban flights from the UK. So far New York or the United States hasn't followed suit. Although Governor Cuomo has said that he would like flights from the UK to stop, so far the best he can get is a few of the airlines agreeing to test their passengers before they leave the UK on their way to New York.

News 12 talked to Dr. Stephen Blatt who said that the virus, "It seems to spread more easily but not be more vicious or difficult to treat. Patients aren’t getting any sicker, just a lot more of them are getting infected.”

Dr. Fauci did say in a press conference that he thinks that the current coronavirus vaccine will protect people from this new strain of COVID-19, but at this point, doctors are just guessing.

Currently, New York hospitals are testing for the new strain and so far haven't had any positive cases. The variant has not been found in New York out of 4,000 tests that have been conducted. Governor Cuomo said it was important that we test for the new strain so we can identify it and isolate it to reduce the spread.

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