While there are calls to put more protocols into place on travel from the U.K., Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical experts say in all likelihood a new, fast-moving strain of coronavirus is already here in the United States.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says it’s “certainly possible” that the new, virulent COVID strain in the U.K. is already in the United States — “you really need to assume it’s here already.” https://t.co/W39hzNlWx1 pic.twitter.com/tiz3xfhzRm
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 22, 2020
The Guardian writes, “Thousands of cases of the more infectious variant of coronavirus have been detected across the UK, according to scientists, who said it had clearly spread beyond areas under the most severe tier 4 restrictions.” Colin Cox, the director of public health in the U.K. told the publication:
“We’ve got a couple of outbreaks in workplaces with more than 100 people in them, in which almost half are getting infected. We’ve seen big outbreaks in schools. Wherever we are seeing outbreaks happening we are seeing them affecting a large proportion of the people who might have been exposed.”
The World Health Organization addressed the new strain saying it is “more infectious, but there’s no evidence it is more deadly.” Dr. Fauci says this is one reason “we don’t want to overreact.” Despite that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still pushing for more restrictions on travel from the U.K., mainly an increase in testing before people can fly to New York airports.
"We have an agreement now with the three airlines that fly from the UK to the New York airports: Virgin, Delta, and British Airways. But the point is bigger than just New York… We have been worried about a mutation."
– @NYGovCuomo on testing UK passengers amid Covid-19 variant pic.twitter.com/BkJK0oNktt
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) December 22, 2020
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