Europe is seeing a new outbreak of coronavirus cases again, and experts said the surge could be an early for warning for what could happen in the United States.
Tom Wenseleers, an evolutionary biologist and biostatistician at KU Leuven, a university in Belgium, said high vaccination rates have slowed hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 during the recent surge, according to Today.com.
- But, he said, the Europe surge could be a sign of what’s to come in the U.S.
- He said the rise is “a sign that the U.S. might still see resurgences, as well.”
- Wenseleers said “convincing as many people to get vaccinated should be the top priority,” while also encouraging people to get booster shots.
Multiple reports suggest a new coronavirus variant could be spreading through Europe. The French paper Le Telegramme reported the new variant — called B.1.X or B.1.640 — has infected people in France. It hasn’t been spreading too much, but it is one to watch right now.
Paolo Gentiloni, the E.U.’s commissioner for economics and taxation, warned that more COVID-19 variants could spread in Europe, too, which would impact economies everywhere.
- “It’s still the pandemic,” Gentiloni said, per CNBC. “We should be very cautious on possible new variants and we need to strengthen vaccination.”