While vaccines and the continued adherence to social health measures – such as wearing a mask, doing social distance and washing your hands – are all effective means of reducing your risk of catching COVID, Anthony Fauci, Managing Director, Chief COVID Advisor for President Joe Biden, says that there is one common misconception about the virus that can endanger your health. During a press conference of the White House COVID-19 response team on February 8, Fauci conceded that no one should count on COVID naturally slowing down in the near future. Read on to find out what Fauci said about how the virus can change – and what it means for its transmission in the future. And for more insight into the pandemic, President Biden just gave this somber COVID update.
Asked if COVID is likely to become less virulent over time, as was the case with other viruses, Fauci said there was no reason to believe it would be with COVID.
“We certainly have no data to suggest that it turns into a less virulent strain,” Fauci said. “Sometimes, when viruses mutate to spread more efficiently, it becomes less virulent, but we have no data to indicate that this actually happens with SARS CoV-2.” And if you want to know how fast the coronavirus is spreading near you, you need to find out how bad the COVID outbreak is in your state.
Although it is highly unlikely that the virus will go away on its own, Fauci said there is not enough information to say definitively whether the virus will become more contagious or not, as it is spreading in the US. ‘it’s not really virulent anymore, we have no indication that this is the case here,’ Fauci said. And if you want to play it safe, you need to find out why dr. Fauci says you should not do this after your first COVID survey.
Although Fauci explained that the original COVID strain remains dominant in the US, he conceded that new strains of the virus, including B.1.1.7., A strain initially reported in the UK, are rapidly evolving to catch up. As of February 7, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reports that there are 690 cases of the British variant in the 33 countries in the United States.
“The immediate concern we have is that we have the 1.1.7. In certainly a significant number of states … Modeling would tell us that it could become dominant by the end of March,” Fauci said. “This is the sobering news.” And for the latest COVID news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Despite the predictive modeling that has so far shown that new variants of COVID may soon overtake the original strain, Fauci explained that things are not as dire as they seem.
‘The vaccines we are currently distributing are very effective against it [B.1.1.7] While acknowledging that the vaccines currently available in the US are not as effective at preventing B.1.3.5.1, a variant of the virus first discovered in South Africa is not a large increase in new infections is a foregone conclusion.
“Hopefully we will get the virus under much better control by the time there is any indication that it may become dominant,” Fauci said. And for more information on what’s up here, look at COVID may take this narrowly terrifying turn next month, study finds.