L452R Covid Variant Increasing In Bay Area, Connected To SJ Kaiser Outbreak Lisa Hix, Bay City News Service Jan. 17, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail NBC Bay Area obtained an image of an air-powered, inflatable Christmas tree costume, worn briefly by an employee on Christmas, is suspected to be the source of a COVID-19 outbreak at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Jose.Courtesy NBC Bay Area The L452R variant of COVID-19 -- being identified by viral genomic sequencing in San Francisco, Monterey and Santa Clara counties -- has been linked to the outbreak at Kaiser Permanente's San Jose Medical Center that led to several dozen infections and possibly one death, as well as other large outbreaks in Santa Clara County.