SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — For more than a year, the city of Altamonte Springs has been testing its sewer water in an effort to predict community spread of COVID-19.

Officials say they have detected the delta variant for weeks but now they believe they have found a new variant of the virus called “Delta Plus.”

Altamonte Springs city manager Frank Martz says they confirmed the new variant last week.

“We found it on Monday and then we confirmed that on Thursday. The delta plus variant and the delta variant is the most dominant variant in Central Florida right now,” he said.

Dr. Michael Teng with USF Health says while delta plus sounds new it is really just an extra mutation of the delta variant that is susceptible to the same neutralizing antibodies.