New CDC director: COVID-19 'variant' from U.K. has spread to 32 U.S. states

Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the COVID-19 "variant" from the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as SARS-CoV-2, has now spread to 32 U.S. states and could be "more lethal" than COVID-19.

"In the United States, 467 cases of the B.1.1.7 lineage [SARS-CoV-2] originated from the U.K. have been confirmed in 32 states as of yesterday," she said during a discussion Monday on concerns surrounding COVID-19 variants organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Walensky said that one case of the P. 1. variant, originally detected in Brazil, has been identified in the U.S. in Minnesota and three cases of the variant from South Africa have been confirmed in two separate South Carolina towns as well as one case in Maryland.

"Available data on these variants suggests that they are more transmissible and may lead to more cases taxing our already overwhelmed healthcare system," Walensky said, adding that "pressing questions" remain on the effect these variants will have on vaccine effectiveness.

Walensky said recent data suggests the U.K. strain, the SARS-CoV-2 variant, is more transmissible compared to COVID-19 and also might be more lethal.

"There are increasing data that suggest that it is somewhere between 50% and 70% more transmissible," she said. "That has a lot of implications for what is needed for herd immunity and things like that. So I think the data are relatively strong and increasing that it's more transmissible, and from what the virology experts will tell me, that's probably the worst one, actually, because if you have more transmission, then everything downstream from that actually increases as well.

"We also have now four relatively small studies out of the U.K. that have suggested also that not only is it ... more transmissible but it may, in fact, also be more lethal. I do think we need more data in this area.". 

Walensky emphasized that the CDC is stepping up its virus "surveillance" in the U.S. to identify and track new variants of COVID-19.

"Since November, state health departments and other public health agencies have been regularly sending samples to CDC for sequencing and further analysis," she said.

After the new variant from the U.K. was discovered, the CDC issued an order effective Dec. 28, 2020 that required "all air passengers arriving to the US from the UK to get tested no more than 3 days before their flight departs and to provide proof of the negative result to the airline before boarding the flight." In January, the testing rule was extended to all international travelers arriving in the U.S. 

Walensky also applauded Biden's decision to recommit to the World Health Organization after the Trump administration stopped funding the agency following the COVID-19 global outbreak.

"I am personally heartened by the recent efforts of the administration to renew our long history of partnership with the World Health Organization, who has been a critical partner and connector of public health, in particular, in responding to public health emergencies like that which we are in today," she said. "The COVID-19 pandemic is the public health challenge of our lifetime, and the rapid emergence of readily transmissible variants across the globe underscores the critical need for strong scientific partnerships internationally. The CDC is committed to that partnership. I am personally committed to that partnership."