The White House coronavirus task force warned in a report to states this week that a rapid increase in cases this winter could be the result of a domestic variation of the virus, separate from the UK variant.
“This fall / winter wave was almost double the rate of increase in cases compared to spring and summer,” wrote the task force in its weekly report, obtained by The Hill.
“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 must be used to match a more aggressive virus; without the uniform implementation of an effective face mask (two or three layers and well adjusted) and a strict social distance, epidemics can worsen rapidly as these variants spread and become prevalent, ”he continued.
The report does not say that there is concrete evidence of a new strain of the virus, but that the cases are increasing so rapidly that they may indicate a more contagious strain in the United States. The UK was hit hard by a new, more contagious strain, a strain that was discovered there and has already been detected in several states in the USA.
“This is not the fact that we have discovered a different variant here in the United States,” former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday when asked about the report.
“It is largely a pattern recognition in which we adjust our curve at the top of the UK curve and, at this moment, the trajectory of what is happening here in the United States is very similar to what followed in the United Kingdom,” he added. .
So far, the British strain of the virus is believed to be more contagious, but not more deadly. It is also not considered resistant to vaccines, although research is ongoing.
The United States has regularly set new records in recent weeks for daily infections and deaths from the virus, as the country struggles to keep the pandemic in check.
Johns Hopkins University said there were 4,085 deaths from coronaviruses in the United States on Thursday, marking the first time the country had exceeded 4,000 deaths in a single day.
The distribution of approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna has been hampered by confusion over distribution, as authorities try to prioritize who should get the vaccines first and how to administer them quickly without wasting doses.
So far, about 6 million of about 21 million distributed doses have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Trump administration is encouraging states to expand the categories of people eligible for vaccine doses as a way to speed up the process and ensure that strict criteria do not slow it down.
The task force in its report this week urged states not to delay vaccinating people over the age of 65 or people at greater risk of serious complications from the virus.
“The messages should be focused on proactive testing of children under 40 to prevent asymptomatic silent spread to their family members and a call to action for immediate testing and rapid infusion of monoclonal antibodies for those at risk for serious illness” says the report. “Every hospital should have outpatient infusion sites immediately available to save lives.”
When asked about the report on Friday, the CDC said there is a “strong possibility” of variants in the United States, but it will take time to determine if there is a single variant fueling the increase, as in the UK, and no variant has been identified. yet.
“Based on the scientific understanding of viruses, it is highly likely that there are many variants evolving simultaneously across the world,” said a CDC spokesman. “In addition, there is a great possibility that there are variants in the United States; however, [take] weeks or months to identify whether there is a single variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, which fuels the outbreak in the United States similar to that in the United Kingdom. “
“Researchers have been monitoring American strains since the beginning of the pandemic, including 5,700 samples collected in November and December,” added the spokesman. “So far, neither CDC researchers nor analysts have seen the emergence of a particular variant in the United States, as seen with the emergence of B.1.1.7 in the United Kingdom or B.1.351 in South Africa.”