CDC Projects U.K. Variant to Become Dominant Source of COVID-19 Infections by March 2021

Today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a study in its Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report (MMWR) indicating the more highly transmissible variant of the COVID-19 virus detected in the United Kingdom, B.1.1.7, has the potential to increase the U.S. pandemic trajectory in the coming months. Based on the latest modeling, the CDC projects that the B.1.1.7 variant will become the predominant virus variant in March 2021.

Currently, the B.1.1.7 variant has been detected in over 30 countries, including the United States. As of this week, approximately 76 cases of the variant have been detected in 10 U.S. states. As a result of this projection, the CDC warns that the increased transmission is likely to further strain health care resources, require extended and more rigorous implementation of public health strategies, and increase the percentage of population immunity required for pandemic control.

The full CDC study is available here.