The lack of Covid testing capacity in the United States could mean that the new highly transmissible coronavirus strain that first emerged in the United Kingdom is already making its way through communities in the US.
That’s according to Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, the medical director of Boston Medical Center’s Special Pathogens Unit.
“To find that species, we need to take a percentage of the diagnosed samples and do a thorough genetic analysis, and (in) in the US, our capacity has not been spectacular, ”the doctor told infectious diseases “The News with Shepard Smith” on Monday. “If the tension is here, we might miss it because the holes in us are just too wide.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new variant has not been discovered in the US
However, the agency said viruses have only been sequenced from about 51,000 of the country’s 17 million infections. The United Kingdom has recorded the most sequences with 125.00. Infections in the UK hit their second-highest daily total on Christmas Eve, with the country confirming 39,036 new Covid-19 cases that day.
As of Monday, the US is demanding that all travelers flying from the UK prove they have a negative Covid-19 test amid growing concerns about the new variant of the virus.
Dr. Bhadelia, who is also NBC News’ medical officer, explained that the measures did not go far enough.
“You can still have people who were negative when they tested, and get on the plane and later turn out to be positive, so I think testing should be linked to some kind of quarantine,” she said.
Japan has taken tougher measures and stopped all arrivals of foreign nationals. More than a dozen countries have reported cases of the rapidly spreading mutation, including Canada, France, South Africa, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
Health experts in the UK and US noted that while the new variant appears to be more transmissible, there is no evidence yet that it is more deadly. Dr. Bhadelia warned that the findings should not make people complacent when it comes to the new species.
“The annoying thing is that while we don’t think it increases mortality, the fact that it is more easily transmitted is also more worrying because the more people become infected, the more people end up in hospitals, and possibly die,” she added.