UK coronavirus variant will become dominant in US in March, CDC says

The CDC is warning the UK variant of the coronavirus, which has been shown to be a lot more transmissible, will become the dominant strain in the U.S. within the next several weeks. “The modeled trajectory of this variant in the U.S. exhibits rapid growth in early 2021, becoming the predominant variant in March,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states in their weekly report. Because of this, the agency is urging “universal and increased compliance with mitigation strategies, including distancing and masking.” The CDC says the increased transmissibility could threaten an already strained health care system, require “rigorous” public health strategies to be extended, and increase the percentage of the population needing immunity before the pandemic is controlled.