Reports of a new highly contagious variant in the United States, published on Friday by various media outlets, are based on speculative statements made by Dr. Deborah Birx and are inaccurate, according to several government officials.
The erroneous report originated from a recent meeting at which Dr. Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, presented graphs of the escalating cases in the country. She suggested to other members of the task force that a new, more transmissible variant originating in the United States could explain the increase, as another variant did in Britain.
His hypothesis appeared in a weekly report sent to state governors. “This wave of autumn / winter has been almost double the rate of increase in cases compared to spring and summer. This acceleration suggests that there may be a US variant that has evolved here, in addition to the UK variant that is already spreading in our communities and may be 50% more communicable, ”says the report. “Aggressive mitigation should be used to match a more aggressive virus.”
Discouraged, CDC officials tried to remove the speculative statements, but were unsuccessful, according to three people familiar with the events.
CDC officials did not agree with his assessment and asked to remove it, but were told not to, according to a frustrated CDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Dr. Birx could not be reached for comment.
News of a possible new variant first appeared on Friday afternoon on CNBC and quickly spread to other media. Responding to media inquiries about the variant, the CDC issued a formal statement refuting the theory.
“Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are monitoring all emerging variants of the coronavirus, including 5,700 samples collected in November and December,” according to Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the agency. “So far, neither CDC researchers nor analysts have seen the emergence of a specific variant in the United States,” he said.
Among the variants circulating in the United States are B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain and now causing a sudden and overwhelming increase in hospitals there. The variant has been detected in some states, but the CDC estimates that it is responsible for less than 0.5% of cases in the country so far.
Another variant that circulates at low levels in the United States, known as B 1,346, contains a deletion that can weaken the potency of vaccines. “But I saw nothing about the increase in transmission,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who discovered this variant.
This variant has been in the United States for three months and is also responsible for less than 0.5 percent of cases, so it is unlikely to be more contagious than other variants, according to a CDC scientist who spoke on condition of anonymity because was not allowed to speak on the subject.
All viruses evolve, and the coronavirus is no different. “Based on the scientific knowledge of viruses, it is highly likely that there are many variants evolving simultaneously across the world,” said McDonald of the CDC. “However, it can take weeks or months to identify whether there is a single variant of the virus that causes Covid-19, fueling the increase in the United States similar to the increase in the United Kingdom.”
Carl Zimmer contributed reporting from New Haven and Noah Weiland from Washington DC