Newsman: A new variant of the coronavirus emerged yet posing another public health challenge in the United States whiles the country already losing more than 3,000 people to COVID-19 every day. The coronavirus has already sickened millions and killed roughly 430,000 people in the United States. While the rollout of vaccines has been slow, President Joe Biden has pledged to deliver 100 million injections in his first 100 days in office — and suggested it’s possible the U.S. could reach 1.5 million shots a day.
The mutated version of the virus, first identified in South Africa, was found in two cases in South Carolina on Thursday. Public health officials said it’s almost certain that there are more infections that have not been identified yet. They are also concerned that this version spreads more easily and that vaccines could be less effective against it.
Scientists last week reported preliminary signs that some of the recent mutations may modestly curb the effectiveness of two vaccines, although they stressed that the shots still protect against the disease. There are also signs that some of the new mutations may undermine tests for the virus and reduce the effectiveness of certain treatments.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the increasing spread of multiple coronavirus variants in the U.S. should serve as a “wake-up call,” stressing the need for vaccine companies to be ready to make new versions of the shots as the country works to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible. Dr Fuchi made the comments Friday during a White House coronavirus briefing with the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, who said the country “should be treating every case as if it’s a variant.”
Scientists have been closely monitoring the worrisome new variants circulation around the world, thus complicating efforts to combat the pandemic. These include the highly-contagious coronavirus variants first detected in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil — all three of which have been reported in the U.S.
“The virus has a playing field, as it were, to mutate. If you stop that, and stop the replication, viruses cannot mutate if they don’t replicate,” Fauci said. “That’s the reason to continue to do what we’re doing. Namely intensify our ability, and our implementation of, to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.”
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who began her role last week, said the U.K. variant had been confirmed in at least 379 cases in 29 states, as of Jan. 27. Walensky said public health officials remain concerned about the variants and “are rapidly ramping up surveillance and sequencing activities” to closely monitor and identify them. javascript:false
The first U.S. case of the variant found in Brazil was announced earlier this week by health officials in Minnesota. It was a person who recently traveled to that South American nation. That version of the virus has popped up in more than a half-dozen countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported at least 315 cases of the U.K.-discovered variant in the United States. Those reports have come from at least 28 states, and health officials believe it could become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March. That variant has been reported in at least 70 countries.
The two cases of mutated version of the South Africa virus were discovered in adults in different regions of the state and do not appear to be connected. Neither of the people infected has traveled recently, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said Thursday.
The arrival of the variant shows that “the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, South Carolina’s interim public health director, said in a statement. “While more COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited. Every one of us must recommit to the fight by recognizing that we are all on the front lines now. We are all in this together.”
In South Carolina, the state health agency said the variant was found in one person from the state’s coastal region and another in its northeastern corner.
