Dr. Fauci warns COVID variant worse than delta is possible, predicts up to 200,000 daily cases soon

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. could double in the next few weeks, potentially resulting in new mutations that could be worse than the highly contagious delta variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Wednesday.

The alarming prediction is based on the rapid rise of infections across the country in recent days and ongoing vaccine resistance by millions of Americans, potentially creating a breeding ground for new variants that could challenge the effectiveness of existing vaccines, the nation’s top infectious disease expert said in an interview with McClatchy.

“What we’re seeing, because of this increase in transmissibility, and because we have about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to get vaccinated who don’t get vaccinated — that you have a significant pool of vulnerable people,” Fauci told the news organization.

“And so when you look at the curve of acceleration of seven-day averages of cases per day, it is going up in a very steep fashion,” he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as he testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on July 20, 2021. (J. Scott Applewhite/)

As of Tuesday, the seven-day rolling average of daily infections nationwide was more than 84,000, up from about 14,000 a month earlier, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The record high for new cases confirmed in a single day was 295,800 on Jan. 7.

“Remember, just a couple of months ago, we were having about 10,000 cases a day,” Fauci said. “I think you’re likely going to wind up somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 cases.”

The warning comes as authorities in South Korea confirm its first two cases of the “delta plus” variant, also known as AY.1 — a relative of the main delta strain that experts fear could be even more transmissible and potentially resistant to antibody treatment.

The World Health Organization has classified the delta plus strain as a “variant of concern,” with confirmed cases reported in the U.S., United Kingdom, India and other countries. It’s still unclear whether the new mutation poses a serious risk to the world.

New ‘delta plus’ COVID mutation detected in South Korea, alarming health officials

The delta variant, on the other hand, has become the dominant strain in the U.S. and many other countries and is a concern among vaccinated people as well. Fauci said delta patients have a viral load “about 1,000 times higher in quantity” than people who had the alpha variant.

But vaccines remain the best hope to defeat COVID-19 and its growing number of strains, Fauci told McClatchy.

“If we don’t crush the outbreak to the point of getting the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated, then what will happen is the virus will continue to smolder through the fall into the winter, giving it ample chance to get a variant which, quite frankly, we’re very lucky that the vaccines that we have now do very well against the variants — particularly against severe illness,” he said.

“We’re very fortunate that that’s the case. There could be a variant that’s lingering out there that can push aside delta.”