Scientists worry that a contagious coronavirus variant may soon push cases up in the United States just as it has in Europe and Asia
FILE - Fans storm the court at the conclusion of a college basketball game in Champaign, Ill., on Sunday, March 6, 2022. After about two months of falling COVID-19 cases, pandemic restrictions have been lifted across the U.S., and many people are taking off their masks and returning to indoor spaces. With coronavirus cases rising in parts of Europe and Asia, scientists worry that an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant may soon push cases up in the United States too.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, told ABC’s “This Week” over the weekend that he also thinks the U.S. will likely face an “uptick” similar to what’s happening in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, where BA.2 is the dominant strain. He said he doesn’t think it will be a “surge.”
Keri Althoff, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, cautioned that CDC case counts underestimate the true numbers because some people are no longer getting tested and others are testing at home and not reporting the results. Also, she said, not every specimen is genetically sequenced to determine the variant.One reason the variant has gained ground, scientists say,.
Still, not all experts are equally concerned about a BA.2-related rise in U.S. cases. Dr. James Musser, head of genomic medicine and infectious diseases at Houston Methodist, said the variant has so far only caused about 1% to 3% of cases in his medical system. Cases there have usually tracked closely with what’s happening in the U.K.
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