Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb has recently said that the Delta variant outbreak is more likely prevalent than the current data show, according to Forbes.
In an interview Sunday with CBS News’ Face the Nation, Dr. Gottlieb warned that the Covid-19 resurgence is likely more pervasive than reported data suggests due to undocumented cases.
However, he said that may actually mean the United States is close to “turning the corner” on the Delta variant outbreak in the coming weeks.
Dr. Goalie said, “I believe there’s more virus than we’re picking up right now,” explaining that there has been undercounting, as the number of at-home antigen tests has not been reported to the government.
The former FDA head said the possible dearth in unreported cases could mean the nation is “much further” into the Delta variant outbreak than case counts show. He said he expects the U.S. could start seeing new cases in the next two to three weeks.
Citing the trajectory of the UK’s Delta-spurred outbreak, Dr. Gottlieb said the U.S. is “about three to four weeks behind in terms of the rate of infections, which rose there for about seven weeks but started to fall on Thursday,” according to Forbes.
He went on to say that experts “don’t have a good sense” about how exactly the case counts could transpire.
It is clear that the Delta variant is much more contagious than other COVID strains. Considering this, Dr. Gottlieb warned every vaccinated American to wear masks for protection against the new variant in “high-prevalence” environments.
In separate interviews, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease experts, and Dr. Jerome Adams, former U.S. Surgeon General, echoed the same, stating that vaccinated people should still wear masks.
Dr. Fauci said, “We’re going in the wrong direction” with the pandemic, calling it a “prudent” decision for officials in cities like Los Angeles to once again start mandating indoor mask-wearing, even among the vaccinated, according to Forbes.
Dr. Gottlieb said Sunday, “If you look at the U.K. in the last seven days, they do appear to be turning the corner. It’s unclear whether that’s going to be sustained [since] they just lifted a lot of the mitigation they had in place, but if the U.K. is any guide, we are perhaps further into this epidemic and hopefully going to turn a corner in the next two or maybe three weeks.”
The highly transmissible Delta variant, which was first discovered in India, sparked the third wave in the United Kingdom this summer despite the high vaccination rate.
In the U.S., over 350,000 cases have been reported over the past week, up from 172% in just two weeks – the highest level since late April. So far, about 49% of the American population has been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Lack of research on breakthrough infections among unvaccinated is another factor likely contributing to underreported cases in the U.S., according to Dr. Gottlieb.
“We need to understand whether or not vaccinated people are developing some nonclinical or mild infections and whether or not they can spread the virus, because that’s important,” he said. The story appeared on Forbes.
