A party during the spring break could cause the “perfect storm” to fuel the spread of new coronavirus variants across the US, an expert warned.
“This is the perfect storm,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN.
Hotez said he feared university kids hitting the party scene in Florida could speed up the spread of the highly contagious British variant, known as B.1.1.7.
‘You have the B.1.1.7 variant accelerating in Florida. You have all these 20-year-old children, ‘he said.
“None of them are going to wear masks. They are all going to drink. They have fairly close and intimate contact. And then, after everything is done, they go back to their home states and distribute the B.1.1.7 variant. ”
Hotez noted that Florida currently has the highest percentage in the country of the British variant, which is thought to be as much as 74 percent transmissible as the original strain.
“So this is not the time to have a superspreader meeting for the British variant. This is what the spring break in Florida would look like,” Hotez said.
“This is not the time to send a bunch of 20-year-olds to Florida and then send them back and spread all over the country.”
Hotez said other destinations during the spring break, such as Texas and Mississippi, could also become a hotbed of the virus now that the states have dropped mask mandates.
“A lot of (students) also go to South Texas, and that’s worrying, too,” Hotez said. He added that the lack of mask rules could ‘accelerate COVID-19 nationally’.
Hotez urged people to avoid travel unless they have been vaccinated or recently infected.
“I know it’s frustrating,” Hotez said. “But try to maximize social distance and masks, and this may be the last spring break you have to give up.”