By Erin Cox Editor Jan 28, 2021 During Wednesday's COVID-19 briefing, Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH), spoke to Kentuckians about the implications of the United Kingdom (UK) COVID-19 variant, after two cases of the strain were confirmed in Kenton County Tuesday. âThe vast majority of COVID-19 mutations have no clinical meaning, they donât functionally have an impact on us if weâre infected. But some of the mutations do cause the virus to be more effective,â said Dr. Stack. âThe COVID-19 B117 variant, the one we believe was first found in the United Kingdom, that variant is more contagious. If you get exposed to it, youâre more likely to be infected, so that means it can infect more people more easily.