Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told CNN that Americans should take the new coronavirus strain “very seriously” as the country prepares for a potential new surge of cases.
What’s going on?
Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, told CNN that U.S. health officials are investigating the new COVID-19 strain, trying to answer a few questions, such as:
- “Does it make someone more ill? Is it more serious virus in the sense of virulence? And the answer is, it doesn’t appear to be that way.”
Fauci said the U.S. will conduct studies to determine if the current COVID-19 vaccine can stop the new strain.
- “We’re getting isolates of it, making combination of viruses, to be able to directly test, getting sera from people who we have vaccinated, and see if it still neutralizes this new strain, this mutant strain that’s coming from the U.K., as well as from South Africa,” he added. “There’s a similar, but not entirely the same type of mutation that we’re seeing in South Africa.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he feels fine after receiving the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and experienced “nothing serious at all.” https://t.co/MOjYmV3dHn #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/bpySnI6epr
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) December 27, 2020
The new virus mutation in the United States
Before the holidays, Fauci told “Good Morning America” the new variant is likely already in the United States. The amount of travel between the U.S. and UK was likely to blame, he said.
- “When you have this amount of spread within a place like the UK, you really need to assume that it’s here already … it certainly is not the dominant strain but I would certainly not be surprised at all if it is already here.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced over the weekend it would require negative COVID-19 test results for UK travelers in order for them to enter the country.