U.K. Variant Could Drive A New Surge In The U.S., Experts Warn

A coronavirus variant that is thought to be more contagious was detected in the United States in Elbert County, Colo., not far from this testing site in Parker, Colo. The variant has been detected in several U.S. states.

Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images

Scientists are sending the U.S. a warning: What’s happening right now in the United Kingdom with the new coronavirus variant could likely happen in the U.S., and the country has a short window to prepare.

“I feel a sense of déjà vu right now about the situation we were in back in the spring,” says epidemiologist Emma Hodcroft at the University of Bern in Switzerland. “I think a lot of countries are looking at the U.K. right now and saying, ‘Oh, isn’t that too bad that it’s happening there, just like we did with Italy in February.

“But we’ve seen in this pandemic a few times that, if the virus can happen somewhere else, it can probably happen in your country, too.”