At the end of last year, it was revealed that new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 were detected abroad, notably in England and South Africa. This week, the CDC confirmed that several cases have already been diagnosed in the United States. “This variant appears to spread more easily and quickly than other variants,” warned the CDC, adding that so far, “there is no evidence that it causes more serious illness or an increased risk of death.” So, how can you protect yourself from infection by this most transmissible virus mutation? In a new interview with ABC7, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reveals the answer. Keep reading to find out what it is – and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss out on these Clear signs that you’ve had the coronavirus.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Fauci has preached some public health fundamentals to help people slow the spread of the virus. With the most recent variants, your most important advice is to continue to follow them. “What we need to do is follow the guidelines,” he said. “If everyone in this country is uniform, and we know that you will never get everyone, but if the overwhelming majority of people in the country simply adhere to the existing guidelines … if more people do, the inflection of that terrible strict increase that we ‘are seeing now that the current we are going through would definitely turn and curve. Without a doubt. “Continue reading for each guideline.
You should wear one now and will be asked to wear a mask during the first 100 days of Joe Biden’s presidency. “We want to reach one million vaccinations a day, as the president-elect mentioned,” said Fauci. “The idea of having everyone for at least 100 days – at least – wearing a mask. Everyone uniformly, so we don’t have disparities where some people are adhering to public health measures and others are not.”
Even with the vaccine being administered, you will still need to be two meters away from the others. We do not yet have collective immunity. “Obviously, with a vaccine more than 90 percent effective, you could feel a lot more confident” about not getting the virus, Fauci told CNN. “But I would recommend people not to abandon all public health measures just because you were vaccinated.”
Whether you’re going to grandma’s for a family reunion or storming the nation’s Capitol with your friends without a mask, it’s a bad idea to be around groups of people now, and even worse being around them indoors. It must be obvious why: “The virus that causes COVID-19 is believed to spread mainly from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks,” says CDC. “These droplets can fall into the mouth or nose of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.”
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Dr. Fauci says that 75% or more of us need to be vaccinated until we can achieve collective immunity and the vaccine is safe and effective. “Are we going to eliminate the bottleneck in a few weeks? I hope so. Are we going to reach 1 million a day in a few weeks? I doubt it. But I think when President-elect Biden arrives, he hopes he can have a working system that can make 1 million a day for the first 100 days, “said Fauci earlier this week.
The biggest problem, according to Fauci? There are so many people who refuse to follow these guidelines, as evidenced by the attack on the United States Capitol this week. “The problem is that we have a very large disparity in our country. There are people in regions of the country who simply do not want to wear a mask, or do not care about congregated environments, ”he said. “So, instead of focusing and saying, ‘Should we change our public health guidelines because of the mutation or even because of the fact that we are going through a terrible wave?'”, He suggests simply following the fundamentals.
“I mean, we now have 360,000 deaths. We are on average between 200,000 and 300,000 new infections a day and almost every day we break a new death record, more than 3,000 deaths a day,” he continued. “The solution is not to change what we are doing. It is to follow the recommendations.”
As for you, follow Fauci’s fundamentals and help stop this wave, no matter where you live – use a face mask, social distance, avoid large crowds, do not go home with people you are not sheltering (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, be vaccinated when it is available to you and to protect your life and the lives of others, don’t visit any of these 35 places you’re most likely to reach COVID.