There is no extremely contagious new variant of the coronavirus in the US, despite reports that a new strain of the deadly bug was circulating here.
Officials said reports suggesting a new mutation was based on speculative statements by dr. Deborah Birx of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, however, said it was inaccurate, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The rumor comes from a meeting during which Birx discussed graphs showing the sharp increase in the spread of the virus across the country. She theorized that a new, more transmissible variant of origin in this country could explain the rapidly increasing number of cases, as an extremely contagious new variant in the United Kingdom did in Britain.
Her hypothesis made it into a weekly report sent to state governors, CNBC reported. “This acceleration suggests that there may be an American variant that has developed here, in addition to the British variant that is already spreading in our communities and which is 50% more transferable,” the report reads.
CDC officials disagree with her assessment and ask to remove it from the report, but they do not succeed, the Times said. Following news reports about the possible variant, the agency issued a formal statement refuting the theory. “To date, no CDC researchers or analysts have seen the emergence of a specific variant in the United States,” spokesman Jason McDonald said.
He noted that all viruses are evolving and that there are likely to be many variants around the world evolving simultaneously. “However, it can take weeks or months to determine if there is a single variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 to fuel the boom in the United States, similar to the boom in the United Kingdom.”
Dr. Birx could not be immediately reached for comment.
The British variant, which caused a boom there that is overwhelming hospitals, has been found in several states, including New York. The CDC estimates that so far it accounts for less than 0.5 percent of cases in the country.
A second variant has been around for three months in the United States and is less than 0.5 percent of cases, so it is probably no more contagious than other variants, a CDC official told Times.