The BA.2 COVID variant will likely drive another spike in infections coming into spring, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Monday, adding that if he was a governor he'd make a "hard push" to be sure seniors are up to date with their vaccinations and boosters.
"This is going to be a real test of whether or not we're able to cope with this while still protecting the vulnerable," Gottlieb told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "There are probably things that we can be doing right now to try to get better protection into vulnerable Americans."
However, even with the new variant, Gottlieb said he thinks there will be continued declines in COVID cases heading into the summer months.
"The prevalence right now is very low," he said. "We're at about 9 cases per 100,000 people per day. We haven't been at these low levels since last June."
But still, there will likely be some wave of infection with the latest variant, because mitigation efforts have been lifted across the United States, he added
"The good news is that we're seeing declines in Europe right now," said Gottlieb. "It's not a trend yet. There's not really a discernible trend so we don't have enough data points to say that it's definitive."
However, cases are once again dropping in the UK and Germany, so "that could be a good harbinger for us," said Gottlieb.
The BA.2 strain is more contagious, however, so people who escaped the Omicron variant may end up becoming infected, said Gottlieb.
"We're at very low levels and I don't think that's going to be enough to change the policy prescription at this point," said Gottlieb. "I don't think you're going to see governors and states, and certainly the federal government, slip back some of the restrictions. The only thing you might see is an extension of the mass mandate on public transportation. Remember that's set to expire in mid-April, but if we're in the middle of a bump up in infections, I suspect the federal government may be reluctant to lift it at that point. They may extend it another couple of weeks."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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