Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday predicted that a new, more contagious COVID-19 strain that first appeared in the U.K. will spread across the U.S., but he added that “it does not appear to be more virulent.”
“We predicted it would be, when you have so much of it in the U.K., which then spread to other countries in Europe and Canada, it was inevitable that it would be here,” Fauci said on NBC News’ “Today.” “You’ll be hearing reports from other states and more cases in the state that is already reported. Unfortunately, that’s just the reality of the way these viruses spread.”
The first case of the strain found in the U.S. was detected on Tuesday in a Colorado resident who had not traveled abroad. “Today we discovered Colorado’s first case of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, the same variant discovered in the UK,” Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote on Twitter. “The health and safety of Coloradans is our top priority and we will monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely.”
On Wednesday, the first case of a more contagious strain of COVID-19 has been found in California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “Just an hour or so ago we were informed that this new variant, this new strain that we have identified obviously from the U.K. and some other parts of the globe, identified in Colorado yesterday has been identified here in the state of California, in southern California,” Newsom said.
Fauci said Thursday that the virus is indeed more contagious. “Our British colleagues have shown, clearly, that it is much more efficient in spreading from person to person,” Fauci said, adding that “the good news is that it does not appear to be more virulent, namely, making people more sick and leading to more death.”
Fauci Predicts New, More Contagious COVID-19 Strain Will Spread Across U.S. | The Daily Wire