Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciOvernight Health Care: CDC Says One Feet Away Safe in Schools | Rising COVID-19 Cases in Europe, Brazil Signals Warning for US | Biden stabs Trump in first visit to CDC Watch Live: White House Press Briefing COVID-19 Response Team Overnight Health Care: Biden Says Country Will Pass 100 Million COVID-19 Shots This Week | US Sends Surplus AstraZeneca Vaccine Doses to Mexico, Canada | Senate confirms Becerra for HHS with tight vote MORE, the government’s chief infectious disease specialist, warned that variants of the coronavirus could make up up to 30 percent of infections in the US
Fauci specifically raised the alarm at a White House press conference on Friday about the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first discovered in the UK and has since spread around the world.
“This variant, as you know, is becoming more and more dominant every day in our own country,” said Fauci.
It was first discovered in the UK in December 2020. It has been reported in more than 90 countries. The first cases in the US were discovered in the United States, Colorado in late December 2020. And since then, it has been discovered in 50 jurisdictions in the United States, and now probably represents about 20 to 30 percent of infections in this country, and that number is growing, “he said.
Fauci noted the concerns of experts that the variant is more easily transmissible and that once contracted, a serious infection is more likely.
“Concerningly, there is about 50 percent more transmission with this particular variant that has been documented in the UK, and there is likely to be an increase in the severity of the disease when infected with this variant,” he said.
Public health officials have specifically pointed to the variants in the UK, as well as other types, in their calls to the public not to oppose following safety guidelines such as wearing a mask and social distancing.
One study showed a 64 percent increased risk of death for people who contract the B.1.1.7 variant, and another showed a 61 percent higher risk of death.
However, vaccines have been shown to be effective against the variant.
“The way we can combat 1.1.7, a growing threat in our country, is by doing two things: getting as many people as possible vaccinated as quickly and as quickly as possible with the vaccine that we know works against this variant; and finally, to implement the public health measures that we talk about all the time, ”said Fauci.