General choice of Biden’s surgeon says US races must adapt to new strains of Covid



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Vivek Murthy, who has been appointed by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as U.S. Surgeon General, speaks as Biden announces his team is tasked with dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware on December 8, 2020.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s surgeon general said on Sunday that the United States was in a race to adapt to the changing coronavirus which has produced a number of potentially more infectious variants of Covid-19.

“The virus is basically telling us that it’s going to keep changing and that we have to be ready for it,” Dr Vivek Murthy said in an interview with ABC News “This Week”.

“We have to be number one, do much better genomic monitoring, so that we can identify variants when they arise and that means we have to double up on public health measures like masking and avoiding indoor gatherings,” Murthy, Biden’s candidate to be the country’s next surgeon general, added.

He also called for a focus on treatment strategies as well as more investment in testing and contract tracing methods.

“So at the end of the day we’re in a race against these variants, the virus is going to change and it’s up to us to adapt and make sure we stay ahead,” Murthy said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that the new variant, known as B.1.1.7, was associated with a higher level of mortality. When asked, Murthy said the United States still needed more data on the British variant before making the same decision.

Dr Anthony Fauci, Biden’s senior medical adviser for Covid-19, told CBS New “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the United States had “every reason to believe” the British government’s claim that the variant is more deadly.

“We have to assume now that what is mainly circulating in the UK has some degree of increase in what we call virulence, mainly the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death,” Fauci said, adding that the US still wants access to UK health data.

Preliminary analysis of the mutated strain, which was first identified in the UK, suggests it could be the culprit for the UK spike in cases. Johnson previously said the new variant could also be up to 70% more heritable. The UK government has also confirmed that another infectious variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa has emerged in the UK.

Read more: 5 things to know about the new Covid strain that is spreading in the UK

Colorado last month announced the country’s first case of the potentially more infectious new strain of Covid-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last week that the UK variant, which is already circulating in at least 10 states, could become the dominant variant in the US by March.

Fauci warned on Sunday that the Covid-19 vaccines currently on the market may not be as effective against new strains of the coronavirus identified in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.

“We’re going to look at this and follow this very, very carefully as these things evolve,” Fauci said, adding that the Biden administration already has plans to change the vaccines.

“We don’t need to do that right now, but the best way to prevent these mutants from evolving is to vaccinate as many people as possible with the vaccines we currently have,” he said. .

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