With the worldwide death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic amounting to 2 million on Friday, a new variant of the virus that has started spreading in the United States has health experts in the forefront. The variant, indicated B.1.1.7, was first identified in the United Kingdom and according to researchers, it is about 50 percent more transmissible than the more common coronavirus strain. On Friday, the CDC predicted that this variant could become the dominant tribe in the US in March.
Yahoo News Medical Contributor Dr. Kavita Patel explains what we can do individually and as a country to limit the impact of this new variant.
Video transcription
KAVITA PATEL: What is the state of affairs with the current variants under investigation, or which variants are of concern? The reason why these mutations – or especially the series of mutations – are of concern is really due to the higher transmissibility, as well as the possibility of making the existing vaccines less effective. So if you know what we know, we know that the British variant is of concern in the United States. We do not know the extent of how far it is in the United States, but it is a good reason to believe that it is likely to be widespread in the United States – probably not responsible for the increases we have in this phase after the holidays do not see, but they can become important.
They are more transmissible, but not necessarily more virulent. What this means is that they do not lead to a more serious form of infection or worse types of diseases leading to death. But something that is more transferable with the British variant, there is a 50% increase in transferability. And when there are so many more people getting infected, some of the people go to the hospital. Some of these people may die. Although the mutated virus itself is not lethal, the fact that it can infect more people more effectively can affect something.
What can I do as an individual to protect myself? Number one, keep reinforcing the same precautions we’ve been talking about for a year now – wear a mask, stay home where possible, or keep your distance and wash your hands. But I’m going to reinforce something that contains one of those precautions, with a mask on.
You really need to consider the effectiveness of your mask. We now know that the quality of a mask matters, and how you wear it. For example, if you have a very thin cloth that only covers your mouth, it is not enough protection.
If possible, it will be incredibly important to wear a higher grade surgical mask or some of the more commercial KN95s or N95 masks, if available in your area. But the better the mask, the better the protection. The question has arisen, and I would even recommend that a double mask, if comfortable, worn properly, is not a bad idea if people do not have a high quality mask.
Besides what we can do as individuals, what can we do broadly? So for example, we have already seen a requirement for the United States. Anyone traveling from a destination outside the US to the United States must take a negative test. However, I would like to warn that a negative test does not necessarily mean that you are negative. There is a time window in which you can test negative and still be a carrier or infected with the virus. So it’s reassuring, but it’s not going to be enough.
The second thing you need to consider is that we do have effective vaccines, which we believe are effective against all these mutations due to the action of the vaccines. We therefore believe that it is effective. But the key here, in the United States, is to make sure we get the vaccines in as many arms as possible so that we can get the majority of the country vaccinated before any virus, including the existing coronaviruses that cause COVID, can spread. such as veldfire.
The third thing to remember is that we do have treatments in hospitals and clinics that have been helpful in reducing the mortality rate, or people are now dying from this disease, as well as in reducing their hospital stay. They are not perfect, and they have been studied and are still being studied extensively. But we now have outpatient treatments that I can offer to patients in a clinical setting or near a hospital, as well as in-hospital treatment. And we learn all the time from other colleagues around the world who also do treatments.
So, these three things – number one, these travel precautions or test requirements, number two, and really think of the approach of vaccinating as many people as possible, and then number three, of really using the currently available treatments when people are sick. This is really how we will hopefully see 2021 as a transition year and hopefully return to normal by the end of the year.