Fauci: COVID-19 variant likely accounts for up to 30 percent of US infections

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill


BY TAL AXELROD - 03/20/21 11:53 AM EDT


Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious disease expert, warned that variants of the coronavirus could account for up to 30 percent of infections in the U.S.

Fauci specifically sounded the alarm at a White House press conference Friday over the B117 variant, which was first spotted in the United Kingdom and has since spread across the globe.

“This variant, as you know, is every day getting more and more dominant in our own country,” Fauci said.

“It was first detected in the UK in December of 2020. It was reported in over 90 countries. The first U.S. cases were detected in the United States, in Colorado, at the end of December of 2020. And since then, it has been detected in 50 jurisdictions in the United States, and likely accounts now for about 20 to 30 percent of the infections in this country, and that number is growing," he said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/544153-fauci-covid-19-variant-likely-accounts-for-up-to-30-percent-of-us

[LisaL]

1. Thankfully vaccines still work against UK covid variant.

NT

[oldsoftie]

2. From what i hear they're good against the others too.

at least making an infection not severe

[wnylib]

3. J&J prevents most severe hospitalizations

and prevents ALL deaths from the South African strain, but Pfizer and Moderna did not compare as well on that strain in lab tests.

So for the South African strain, boosters will be needed. None available yet, but are in development.

I am concerned about both of those variants because they are even more contagious and appear to be more severe. Of the two, the South African one worries me most.

The Brazilian one looks worse than the UK one, too.

I'm afraid that we're in for another big wave as the UK virus takes hold in the US. Not sure if that's the one spreading through Ontario, Canada right now, but Buffalo media are reporting that Toronto is being shut down and Canadian officials are expressing concern about an uptick in the "Toronto to Niagara Falls corridor." A bit concerning for those of us on this side of the border, too.

[madville]

4. Yeah, the vaccines seem ok against the original UK variant

They are finding a specific element of the South African variant mixed in with UK variant cases in the UK now that greatly lowers vaccine effectiveness. Troubling because the AstraZeneca vaccine is only 10% effective against the SA strain. Pfizer and J&J are currently working on boosters that will hopefully correct this with theirs.