Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci Overnight Care: CDC Says Six Meters Safe in Schools | COVID-19 houses growing in Europe, Brazil signal warning for US | Biden hits Trump on first visit to CDC Watch live: COVID-19 White House response team press briefing Overnight care: Biden says the country will pass 100 million COVID-19 photos this week | US to send overdoses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico, Canada The Senate confirms Becerra for HHS in a strictly MORE vote, the government’s leading infectious disease expert, has warned that coronavirus variants could account for up to 30% of US infections
Fauci specifically sounded the alarm at a White House press conference on Friday on variant B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom and has since spread around the globe.
“This variant, as you know, is becoming more and more dominant in our country every day,” said Fauci.
“It was first detected in the UK in December 2020. It has been reported in over 90 countries. The first cases in the United States were detected in the United States, in Colorado, at the end of December 2020. Since then, it has been detected in 50 jurisdictions in the United States and now probably accounts for about 20 to 30 percent of infections in that country. , and that number is growing, “he said.
Fauci noted the concerns of experts that the variant is more easily transmitted and that a serious infection is more likely once it is contracted.
“It is worrying that there is a 50 per cent increase in transmission with this particular variant that has been documented in the UK and it is likely an increase in the severity of the disease if it is infected with this variant,” he said.
Public health officials have specifically indicated UK variants, as well as other strains, in their calls for the public not to relax following safety recommendations such as wearing masks and social distancing.
One study showed a 64% increased risk of death in people who contracted variant B.1.1.7, and another showed a 61% higher risk of death.
However, vaccines have been shown to be effective against the variant.
“The way we can counter 1.1.7, which is a growing threat in our country, is to do two things: vaccinate as many people as possible and as quickly as possible with the vaccine we know works against this variant. ; and finally, to implement the public health measures we talk about all the time, ”said Fauci.