Anthony Fauci considers it probable that the English strain of coronavirus is already in the US | The State
Dr. Anthony Fauci before receiving the coronavirus vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland, this Tuesday.
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Patrick Semansky / EFE
NY – America’s Chief Epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, considered this Tuesday that it should be assumed that the new most contagious strain of the coronavirus is in the country, since it would not be a surprise that with the expansion it has had in UK has exceeded its borders.
In an interview with the morning show “Good Morning America,” the director of the National Center for Allergy and Infectious Diseases He assured that it is “certainly possible” that the strain detected in the United Kingdom is already in the United States.
“When the level of contagion that has taken place in the United Kingdom occurs, one must assume that it is already here, although it would not be the dominant strain, but I would not be surprised if it is already here,” said Fauci, who will receive the vaccine today against COVID-19 at a public event.
Fauci recommended not to “overact” due to the appearance of this new strain and considered that travel bans from the United Kingdom, which the United States has not yet imposed, but European countries have, are “draconian”.
Strengthen screening tests for travelers to avoid canceling flights from the UK
Instead, Fauci supported measures such as those proposed by the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, to strengthen the tests for travelers from the United Kingdom, but not to cancel flights, which continue to arrive daily in the United States, mainly from London.
“The most important thing we have to do is keep watch here. The strain may already be here. I doubt it is a prevalent strain, but as the governor said it is entirely conceivable that it is already present, ”said Fauci, who avoided declaring his support for a possible ban on flights from the UK.
The new variant of the coronavirus is 70% more contagious than other more common ones and has been responsible for an increase in cases in the United Kingdom, although it is not currently considered more virulent or immune to the vaccines that are already being distributed.
The United States registers 18 million cases and more than 319,000 deaths from COVID-19, more than in any other country in the world in absolute terms, according to the independent count from Johns Hopkins University.
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