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Dr. Fauci just said this is “without a doubt” our main problem with COVID! The expert and White House advisor on infectious diseases commented on the variants of the coronavirus in the US and the world.
COVID cases are down in the US, up in Europe! However, the question of where the pandemic goes from here is open as the country heads into winter. Last year, in 2020, there was a massive spike in contagion during the winter months due to holiday travel and indoor gatherings. White House COVID advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recently gave his predictions on the COVID pandemic ahead of the coldest season, noting that while things are moving in the right direction, the steepness of the decline in cases isn’t as promising as it was a month or so ago. But that’s not the only concern the infectious disease expert has right now.
Fauci
has these core concerns.
During a Nov. 10 press conference with the White House COVID response team and public health officials, Fauci discussed what concerns there are about COVID variants in the U.S. as the country heads into winter. According to the infectious disease expert, the Delta variant still overwhelmingly dominates the country.
“Right now, the Delta variant is our problem, without a doubt,” Fauci said during the briefing. He added that the Delta variant currently still causes about 99 percent of all COVID cases in the United States.
Fauci also said officials remain “very vigilant” about the emergence of other new variants. “We always keep an eye on any variant that emerges to determine whether or not it is overtaking in prevalence,” he said.
New mutations are also lurking
.
Authorities are currently investigating a newly discovered mutation of the delta variant, known as delta plus. In late October, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told NBC News that Delta Plus has not become rampant in the U.S. because there have only been a handful of cases of the sub-variant.
“We don’t anticipate a variant emerging that exceeds the capacity of Delta,” Fauci said at a COVID Response Team press briefing at the White House on October 13.
According to Fauci, more vaccinations can help prevent new variants from spreading like Delta, as all three vaccines are still highly effective against most variants. The CDC recently told Business Insider that there is no evidence that Delta Plus is bypassing our current vaccines. However, Fauci assured that health officials will continue to ensure that no variant completely bypasses the vaccine’s effectiveness.
New variants under scrutiny
.
“When we get a new variant, we always do studies to see whether or not it bypasses monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma or the antibodies that are induced by vaccines,” Fauci said during the Nov. 10 briefing.
According to the CDC, 58.5 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated as of Nov. 10. However, Fauci pointed out that there are still about 66 million people who are eligible for vaccination but have not yet been vaccinated.
“A virus will not mutate or form a variant if you don’t give it the opportunity to replicate. So as long as you … control the viral dynamics in the community, which is best done by vaccinating the vast majority of the population, we can prevent the emergence of new, problematic variants,” Fauci said during the Oct. 13 briefing.