January 15 (UPI) – A more contagious strain of COVID-19 could become “prevalent” in the United States in March, making it even more difficult to control the pandemic, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted on Friday.
Variant B.1.1.7 is believed to have first appeared in England in September, although it was not identified until last month.
It has been detected in more than 30 countries, with 76 cases in 10 U.S. states, CDC researchers said.
The rapid spread of the variant may slow the population’s immunity stimulated by the COVID-19 vaccines, two of which, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, were approved for use in the United States last month, they said.
“The increase … in transmission can threaten depleted health resources, require an extensive and more rigorous implementation of public health strategies and increase the percentage of population immunity needed to control the pandemic,” the researchers wrote.
“Taking steps to reduce transmission now can lessen the potential impact of B.1.1.7 and allow for critical time to increase vaccination coverage,” they said.
The researchers called for greater efforts to identify people infected with the new strain, through greater testing capacity and contact tracking initiatives.
Contact tracking is a public health strategy designed to track people who may have been exposed to an infected person.
Predictions for the future spread of the B.1.1.7 strain in the United States are based on computer models, said the CDC researchers.
This modeling takes into account how other strains of the virus have already spread across the country, as well as the number of current cases and potential for transmission, they said.
Given that the new strain spreads much more quickly than other versions of COVID-19, it is likely that more and more cases will arise, especially if mitigation strategies, such as wearing a mask and social distance, are not implemented effectively, according to the researchers.