Healthcare workers are preparing vaccinations against Pfizer coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Los Angeles, California, January 7, 2021.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
According to a document obtained by NBC News, the White House coronavirus working group said there could be a new variant of the virus that has evolved in the United States and is spreading.
The new version, in addition to the British version, is already spreading in the communities and can be 50% more transmissible, according to the report issued to the states on January 3.
The working group said the recent increase in cases was almost double the rate observed in the spring and summer seasons, according to the report. The United States has at least 228,400 new cases of Covid-19 and at least 2,760 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using data from Johns Hopkins University. The United States reported the deadliest day on Thursday, with more than 4,000 deaths.
“This acceleration suggests that there may be a US variant that has evolved here, in addition to the British variant that is already spreading in our communities and may be 50% more transmissible,” the report said. “Aggressive mitigation should be used to suit a more aggressive virus; without uniform implementation of effective face masking (two or three layers and well-matched) and strict social distancing, epidemics could worsen rapidly as these variants spread. and become predominant. “
Representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately return CNBC’s requests for comment.
Few details have been provided regarding the new US strain, including how long it has been circulating. In recent weeks, the United States has stepped up its genomic sequences to try to detect other strains.
Public health officials were already worried about the arrival of a new strain of virus found in the UK, known as B.1.1.7.
The CDC has identified at least 52 Covid-19 cases with the B.1.1.7 mutation in the United States, according to data posted on the agency’s website updated Thursday. However, the CDC warns that their number “does not represent the total number of B.1.1.7 offspring cases that could circulate in the United States” and may not match the figures reported by local officials.
So far, the CDC shows only California, Florida, New York, Colorado and Georgia with cases of variant B.1.1.7, but other states such as Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Texas announced on Thursday the arrival of the strain in their states.
Michael Osterholm, a member of President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 advisory committee, said Tuesday that the United States is likely to see more new variants of the virus.
Osterholm, epidemiologist and The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said in an interview with CNBC that the strain discovered in the UK is “a very big concern.”
“And it is the first of what will probably be a series of strains that appear while we are in this time of pandemic,” he added.
This is a developing story. Please check again for updates.