Harvard expert calls coronavirus variant ‘very big problem’

As a new variant of the coronavirus forces the UK to another suppression, says Marc Lipsitch of Harvard disease, it’s time for US officials to focus on the extremely contagious mutation.

“I think the new variant is really a big problem,” Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, told reporters during a conference call Tuesday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the infectious new variant that emerged in the UK appears to be “easier and faster to spread than other variants.” Although there is no evidence that it is more deadly, researchers have estimated that the British variant is between 56 and 70 percent more transmissible than previous mutations of the virus.

On Monday, England and Scotland announced they would close with the rest of the UK, close schools and businesses and reissue a stay-at-home order, after the surge varied by the alternations pushed COVID-19 hospitalizations in England above their April has. peak.

Because of its rapid spread in the United Kingdom and in at least three dozen other countries, as well as the “very primitive system” of the United States, Lipsitch said the variant “is probably more widespread than we think.”

The variant has been officially identified in four U.S. states: Colorado, California, New York and Florida.

However, while Massachusetts has not yet reported a confirmed case, government Charlie Baker told reporters Tuesday morning that officials can only accept that the variant has reached the state unnoticed.

“I think most of us work with the assumption that it’s here,” Baker said. “I mean, there would be no reason not to do that, given the contagious nature of this new variant.”

Experts say they believe the newly approved COVID-19 vaccines offer effective protection of the variant. But because the rollout in the United States and other countries is just underway, some are asking for additional action. A study released by British researchers last month suggested that officials could not control the spread without closing schools, adding that it may also “be necessary to significantly speed up vaccination of vaccines.

Lipsitch said there was “good reason to expect” that the rapid spread of the variant would be repeated elsewhere in the UK.

“It just makes it a much harder problem,” he said. ‘And it emphasizes the need for vaccination as soon as possible. In my opinion, this also means that we have to focus our control efforts very much on the variant. ”

Lipsitch, which has criticized attempts to locate contact in the United States, said officials should focus on isolating identified cases of the COVID-19 variant before spreading it widely, if possible.

“One of the reasons why it was a challenge to do good contact detection is that we have so many cases,” he said. ‘At the moment we probably do not have as many cases of this new variant. To the extent that we can find it and preferably stop the spread – it will not be perfect, it will not be perfect for a long time – but anything we can do to slow down the spread of this new virus will facilitate control and help us in the race to get more people vaccinated. ”