Are new coronavirus variants already in Washington? With limited surveillance it’s hard to know By Sandi Doughton, The Seattle Times Published: January 15, 2021, 8:16am Share: As mutated versions of the novel coronavirus pop up across the U.S. — including at least one that is more contagious — researchers in Washington say surveillance in the state is falling short of what’s needed to quickly spot new variants. While Washington is doing better than many other states, only about 1.7% of viral genomes has been sequenced since the start of the pandemic. In December — when the new variants began to explode across the U.K. and other countries — more than 70,000 people in Washington tested positive, and fewer than half a percent of those cases have been sequenced so far.