Telegram & Gazette WORCESTER—City officials said Thursday that in light of news this week of a person from Worcester County testing positive for the highly-transmissible "U.K. variant" strain of COVID-19, it is critically important for residents to continue to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines. City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. and Dr. Michael P. Hirsh, the city's medical director, did not provide much more information on the person, other than to say they had returned from the United Kingdom Jan. 4, and were tested Jan. 5. Hirsh said it's helpful to look back to the Biogen conference in Boston early in the pandemic that became one of the nation's early COVID-19 "super spreader" events. He said that started with one person who was infected, and the Biogen conference is now believed to be responsible for more than 300,000 cases in the U.S. For that reason, Hirsh said residents should presume that there are more than two cases of people infected with the variant strain out there.