Colorado officials said Wednesday they were investigating a possible second case of the variant, and California confirmed its first case, in the southern part of the state. "We are aware of one confirmed and another possible case with the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus," Colorado state epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy said Wednesday morning at a news conference. •In Colorado, both of the cases are National Guard soldiers who were deployed to support staffing at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Simla, Colorado, outside Denver, Herlihy said. It was not immediately clear whether the soldiers acquired the virus at the facility or elsewhere, Herlihy said, but scientists were "exploring all possibilities."