The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with UK officials to review recent data suggesting that there is a ‘realistic possibility’ that the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant is no longer just contagious not, but more deadly.
In an article released by the British New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group on Friday, scientists said ‘some preliminary analyzes have been undertaken showing that the severity of the disease associated with this new variant, B.1.1.7 , may increase. ”
The group noted that mortality rates per infection remained low, and that the new data were based on a ‘relatively small number of people’ from ‘a small number of institutions’.
“More data is being collected and the position will become clearer in the coming weeks,” the group wrote.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted on Friday: ‘We have now learned that the new variant of the virus, in addition to spreading faster, is also associated with a higher mortality rate. It is therefore more important than ever that we all abide by the rules and stay at home, protect the (National Health Service) and save lives. ”
A CDC official told CNN on Saturday that the agency had “reached out to UK officials and was reviewing their new death data related to variant B.1.1.7.” ‘
The variant, first identified in the UK in November, traversed the country and was passed on to more than 50 countries, including the US.
More than one case has been discovered in Massachusetts, including a Worcester County resident who traveled to the United Kingdom during the holiday season. For more information on the B.1.1.7. tension, read here.
Early data from the UK and CDC showed that the new strain is more contagious but does not lead to worse symptoms or higher hospitalizations or deaths. But public health officials continued to insist cautiously and encouraged continued social distancing efforts and vaccinations in light of the B.1.1.7. strain and a similar one found in South Africa and Brazil.
“I’m worried … that as it spreads more easily, more people will become infected,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist, researcher and head of innovation at Boston Children’s Hospital, said in a recent report on the tension. “It is likely to lead to more hospitalization and deaths, stressing that we still need to take serious health measures such as wearing a mask and social removal.”
Brownstein noted that many variants of the COVID-19 virus are already spreading worldwide, which is expected with any virus. “Most have only a few genetic changes that do not dramatically change the behavior of the virus,” he said.
He added that the B.1.1.7 variant ‘did not cause enough mutations to escape the cover by the vaccines’, so that existing vaccines administered across the country will still blunt the variant.
According to the CDC, B.1.1.7. may become the predominant source of the virus in the US by March. Nearly 200 cases have already been detected in at least 22 states, CNN reports.
Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist on President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 transition team, told CNN that the data in the recent British report ‘convinced’ him that the new variant was more deadly.
“The data is increasing – and some of it I can not share – which clearly supports that B.1.1.7 causes serious illness and increased death,” he said. “We already know that this variant has increased the transmission, so it’s very bad news.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 25 million Americans contracted COVID-19 and more than 417,000 died in the entire pandemic.
Related content: