HOWELL, Mich. – A case of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus has been identified in Michigan’s Livingston County for the first time, officials report Saturday. The Livingston County Health Department on Saturday announced that a resident has tested positive for the COVID-19 variant known as B117, which experts say is 50 percent more transmissible than the dominant virus strain in the U.S. The health department identified two potential COVID exposure sites related to the variant case. “The possibility of additional spread of the variant is a concern,” said Juan Marquez, Medical Director at the Livingston County Health Department. More: ‘Undetected spread in community’: COVID variant cases in Michigan rise by more than 100