Corona advisor to the US President
“Raging worldwide”: US expert Fauci warns of “unusual” Omikron variants
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and advisor to US President Joe Biden
© Susan Walsh / AP / DPA
The omicron variant of the coronavirus is on the rise. Anthony Fauci, top pandemic advisor to US President Joe Biden, is concerned – but he also finds reassuring words.
The leading US expert on infectious diseases, Anthony Fauci, has warned of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus: “This virus is extraordinary,” he said in interviews with US broadcasters on Sunday CNN and NBC News. It “rages worldwide” and there is no doubt about its “extraordinary ability to spread”. Although the mutation appears to cause less severe symptoms in vaccinated people, its easy transferability counteracts the mildness of the cases.
Fauci fears that Omikron will quickly overload the clinic
In the United States, Omikron is likely to cause another sharp spike in the number of infections, especially among the unvaccinated, said US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser. “If it looks like this, our hospitals will be crowded for the next week or two because there are so many people in this country who can be vaccinated but haven’t been vaccinated yet.”
In view of the upcoming trips and family visits over the holidays, Fauci also found reassuring words: “If you are vaccinated and boosted and make sure that you always wear your mask in places with many people such as airports, everything should be fine”, he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. The doctor called on air travelers to take off their masks during the flight.
Christmas 2021 does not have to be a repeat of Christmas 2020, Fauci explained with regard to the dramatic corona situation a year ago. He encouraged people to get tested indoors before celebrating and avoiding gatherings unless they were certain that all guests had been vaccinated.
“We are in better shape today than we were a year ago,” he said on CNN. “We now have several tests available for home use, whereas we had practically none a year ago. But we still have to get better.”
Fauci calls for vaccinations and boosters
Omikron was discovered by scientists in South Africa at the end of November. Since then, it has spread around the world, and the variant has already arrived in Germany. It has 50 mutations compared to the original virus, 32 of them in the so-called spike protein, with which the coronavirus docks on the host cell. Hence the fear that Omikron is significantly more contagious than previous variants. However, the number of hospital stays in relation to the total number of infections seems to be smaller than with the Delta variant, said Fauci, citing initial data from South Africa. However, this information has not yet been fully secured, he emphasized.
Fauci urged people to urgently get vaccinated, boosted and tested and to wear masks to curb the spread of omicron before and on the holidays. “We will see a breakthrough in infections, there is no doubt about that,” stated the immunologist, making it clear at the same time: “There is a big difference in terms of the risk of a severe course between a vaccinated and boosted person who has an infection , and someone who has an infection and has never been vaccinated. ”