Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's top medical advisor, said Friday the newly-named Omicron variant of COVID-19 could potentially already be in the United States.
"We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility," it will "go essentially all over,” Biden's chief medical advisor said.
A German state minister has warned that the omicron variant of COVID-19 has "very likely already arrived" in Germany. Mutations typical of the variant were detected in a traveler returning from southern Africa.
As the new omicron variant begins appearing worldwide, health officials are weighing in on how likely the COVID threat is already in the U.S. and how to prepare.
The omicron variant has not been detected in the U.S., but Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is certain to be at some point. Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins appealed for people to get vaccinated as a defense.
In the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, said he would not be surprised if the omicron variant was already in the United States, too.
Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the omicron COVID-19 variant will “inevitably” hit the United States, noting that it has already been detected in several other countries.
The new Omicron variant will "inevitably" be found in the U.S. and early evidence suggests it could be "highly transmissible," Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
