BARCELONA – It was a bad end to a bad COVID week in Europe. On Friday night, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that researchers had found ‘evidence’ that the recently discovered British variant of the coronavirus, which was known to be more contagious than the original strain, and an alarming rise in cases and a lockout in that country, “it may be associated with a higher mortality rate.” A death rate of 30 percent added his leading scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, when he unveiled the assessment by the country’s new and emerging advisory group on respiratory virus threats. He added that there is still “a lot of uncertainty” about how lethal the variant is.
In response to the news, Yahoo News medical contributor, dr. Kavita Patel, that ‘ten different studies with models show that the [U.K.] variant has a higher risk of death compared to the non-British variants, “but emphasized that” these are studies and models, not necessarily clinical trials. “She added that if the British tribe is in fact more lethal, it’s becoming more urgent to get vaccines out as soon as possible” and that epidemiologists need to understand the spread of the variant more clearly here in the US.
The variant, which is thought to be as much as 70 percent more transmissible than the predominant tribe in the U.S., has been identified in at least 20 states among Americans with no recent history of foreign travel, suggesting it is spreading rapidly. The CDC says it could become the dominant tribe in the US by March.
The UK report has hit Spain particularly hard, as there have been new cases since the holiday season, with Friday’s announcement of 44,357 new cases breaking all previous daily records. Only the US and Brazil report a larger number of new cases. It is believed that at least 5 percent of the cases in this Spanish “third wave” are the British variant, which according to the Spanish government’s chief scientific COVID adviser, Fernando Simón, will be the dominant tension in Spain within a few weeks.
It was initially believed that the dramatic increase was a reflection of the extended holiday period in Spain, which runs from December 24 to January 6, during which some restrictions, such as curfews and travel between regions, were eased. With hospitalizations reaching new heights, however, epidemiologists have realized that the British variant, which first appeared in Spain a month ago, has been clearly seen in increasing numbers, and seems to be fueling rising cases, especially in the south of the country.
So far, the Spanish national government, which has been wearing the mask in all public places, including on the streets, has curtailed hours of restaurant operations and set a nationwide 22:00 evening clock in October, denying requests from Spain’s regions for the evening clock on 8 to set pm or to set a complete exclusion.
In fact, in the country where tourism is an economic driver, Spanish authorities recently announced that they hope that tourism in Spain will be back on track by late summer. By that time, the prime minister believes at least 70 percent of Spaniards have been vaccinated, a process that began last month.
Patel emphasizes that “despite this sobering news, we still believe that vaccines can work against these variants and be incredibly important, especially for those at high risk of dying from COVID.” But because vaccines may need to be adapted to address the British and other new variants, Americans need to ‘triple our efforts to public health’, such as putting on masks and taking social distances.
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