Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease specialist in the United States, said he believed that a new, more contagious variant of the new coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom, was also more virulent.
When British scientists studied the mutation “intensively” on a case-by-case basis, Fauci said they initially thought the variant was more transmissible, but not necessarily more likely to cause serious illness or death.
“When they went and became more gradual and looked at the data, they convinced themselves that it is actually a little more virulent, that is, making it more difficult when you get to the point of serious illness and even death. So I believe in their data. I didn’t see all of that, but from what I heard, I believe in the data, “said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, in an interview Monday on” Good Morning ” , America. “
ABC News learned that US President Joe Biden plans to impose a ban on most non-American citizens who entered the country who were recently in South Africa, as well as to re-establish the ban on entry for almost all non-American citizens of Brazil, Ireland , the United Kingdom and 26 other European nations that allow travel across open borders. The change comes as new, more contagious variants of the new coronavirus emerge from South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Some researchers fear that the mutations may reduce the potency of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently in use in the U.S.
Fauci, who is Biden’s chief medical advisor, said he believed the ban on travel to South Africa was “prudent” and “the right decision”, although he admitted that “there is always the possibility and even the likelihood of some slippage. “.
“At the moment, although our surveillance is not as comprehensive as we would like, it does not appear that this particular mutant is in the United States – although it may be,” he said. “But if you have a free flow of people from a country where this mutant is clearly dominant – I talk to my colleagues often in South Africa, it is clearly dominant there – I believe that the travel ban will be important, in addition to having a situation in which anyone who comes to the country now will have to do a negative test before they even get on the plane, when they land to have a quarantine degree and also another test.
Fauci expressed hope that vaccine shortages and delays in many communities in the United States will be corrected “within a very reasonable period of time”, while warning that “it will take a while”.
“We have to remove all obstacles,” he said. “We need to go into the trenches and find out exactly at that local level what is going on and how to fix it.”
He said that “getting the vaccine situation on track” is Biden’s “highest priority”.
“The president said publicly, but in a private session, just sitting with him and the medical team, he is very serious. He said: ‘Science will rule. Let’s follow the facts. We will follow the evidence. We will follow the data ‘, ”recalled Fauci. “So the idea that the President himself sits with you and says, ‘I want science to rule, go there and do everything we need to do to make that happen’ is really very refreshing.”