CDC warns COVID-19 variants are taking over with America facing ‘another surge’

A spike in COVID-19 variants could lead to “another avoidable surge” of cases in the US if efforts go out the window, an expert has warned.

COVID-19 variants are “a growing proportion” of cases across the US — and the country could see “another avoidable surge” of the virus like Europe if mitigation efforts go out the window, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned today.

Two newly identified variants, B. 1427 and B. 1429, are estimated to make up about 52 per cent of COVID-19 cases in California, 41 per cent in Nevada and 25 per cent in Arizona, Dr Rochelle Walensky said during a White House press briefing.

The B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the UK, is believed to account for nine per cent of the infections in New Jersey and eight per cent of those in Florida.

In New York City, the homegrown strain B. 1.526 and the UK variant together account for 51 per cent of cases, local officials said this month.

“The continued relaxation of prevention measures while cases are still high, and while concerning variants are spreading rapidly throughout the United States, is a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation,” Dr Walensky said.

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Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, has warned of the threat mutant strains pose to the US. Picture: Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP

“I get it — we all want to return to our everyday activities and spend time with our family, friends, and loved ones, but we must find the fortitude to hang in there for just a little bit longer.”

The nation is “at a critical point in this pandemic”, the CDC head warned.

“We as a country must decide which path we are going to take. We must act now,” Dr Walensky said.

“I am worried that if we don’t take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge, just as we are seeing in Europe right now and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccination.”

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The continued relaxation of restrictions while case numbers are still high “poses a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation”, Dr Walensky said. Picture: Mark Makela/Getty Images/AFP

Several European countries, including France and Italy, have reinstituted lockdown measures as new variants fuel a third wave of infections in the continent.

Dr Walensky said the Biden administration was encouraging governors and the private sectors to maintain or reimpose preventive measures.

“We’re doing outreach with states, territories to encourage them to look at their case data, to look at what’s happening with the variants and to do as much outreach as we can to try and slow down the relaxation,” she said.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and is reproduced here with permission