Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical advisor on the Chinese coronavirus, estimated Friday the B117 variant likely comprises 20 to 30 percent of virus cases in the United States.
The U.K. virus variant, which Fauci said is causing a “significant degree of concern in Europe,” is getting “more and more dominant” in the U.S. The B117 variant is more contagious than the original strain.
“This variant, as you know, is every day getting more and more dominant in our own country… It was first detected in the U.K. 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,” Fauci said during Friday’s White House briefing.
“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 added.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director noted there is “about [a] 50 percent increase in transmission” with the variant and “likely an increase in severity of disease if infected with this variant.” He cited one U.K. study that indicated a “64 percent increased risk of death” for those infected with the variant strain.
Again identifying the strain as a “growing threat” in the country, Fauci emphasized the importance of getting Americans vaccinated as “quickly and as expeditiously as possible with the vaccine that we know works against this variant” while continuing to promote public health measures, such as social distancing and universal masking.
Just over one year ago, Fauci dismissed the need for masks during a March 2020 60 Minutes appearance, saying, “Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks… There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.”:
“When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better, and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is,” Fauci said at the time, warning of “unintended consequences” such as people “fiddling with the masks” and “touching their face.”
The U.S. has reported 29,490,832 cumulative cases of the virus, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) March 19 data. Florida, a state with minimal-to-no coronavirus restrictions, continues to report fewer new cases of the virus than blue New York, which has a statewide mask mandate and other restrictive measures in place.