Dr Anthony Fauci said on Thursday that public health measures are aimed at spreading the COVID-19 is as important as ever with the detection of two cases of a new variant of the virus in California and Colorado.
The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in an interview on ‘Today’ that it is inevitable that the new variant, the spread of which was announced in the United Kingdom earlier in December, would appear in the United States.
British scientists and officials said the new variant seems to spread more easily and effective, which Fauci said “should be taken seriously.”
“The good news is that it does not seem virulent anymore, namely to make people sicker and lead to more deaths,” Fauci said Thursday. “So it’s a good thing. Clearly, we do not want to see a virus that has greater spreadability. The other thing that is important and beneficial is that it does not seem to evade the protection that the vaccines currently using. ”
The scientist said he expects more cases of the variant to be detected and reported in Colorado, California and elsewhere in the country.
“It just underscores the need to keep our foot on the floor and the pedal to make sure we take the public health measures we talk about all the time,” Fauci said. ‘Wearing masks, the physical distance, the avoidant crowds and the gathering. These are the kind of things that will prevent this new tension from spreading even further. ”
During his interview, the leading public health expert also addressed the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, which by the end of 2020 was far less than the target of 20 million doses.
Failure to reach the projected 20 million doses is ‘disappointing’, Fauci said.
“Hopefully if you come in the first few weeks in January, the increase in momentum will get us to where we want to be, but there really needs to be more effort to help the locals, namely, the states, the cities. , the provinces – the places where the vaccine actually goes into the arms of individuals, ”Fauci said. “You have to support the local groups – the states and the cities – to help them do this task, which is a very wonderful task.”
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