Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are very worried about the new strains of the coronavirus that are originating in the UK and South Africa. The United States is already confronting with those new variants of the pandemic virus that are spreading significantly faster than the old ones.
While there’s no reason yet to believe that the new coronavirus strains can directly cause more severe illness or higher risk of death, more infections will automatically mean more sick people and higher numbers of deaths.
Urgent warning from the CDC
Yahoo.com brings the news about the CDC officials being worried about the new variants of the pandemic virus. While sticking to the old measures that we all know is a great idea (wearing facemask, washing our hands, maintaining a distance from one another), the CDC doesn’t hesitate to emphasize the most probable and terrifying outcome:
New virus variants that spread more easily could lead to a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Jay Butler, who is deputy director for infectious diseases at the CDC, declared:
We’re sounding the alarm and urging people to realize the pandemic is not over and in no way is it time to throw in the towel.
The CDC also believes that higher vaccination coverage could be needed for protecting the public.
How to protect ourselves from the new strains
As mentioned above, the methods of protection are pretty much the same, and the CDC also reports:
Rigorous and increased compliance with public health mitigation strategies, such as vaccination, physical distancing, use of masks, hand hygiene, and isolation and quarantine, will be essential to limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and protecting public health.
The UK is already learning the hard way how ravaging one of the new coronavirus strains can be, as the country is dealing with tens of thousands of infections each day.