Alarming is not the word when considering that it’s “certainly possible” that the new variant of coronavirus in the UK is already in the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci made the statement during an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday.

“That’s certainly possible I mean, when you have this amount of spread within a place like the UK, that you really need to assume that it’s here already, and certainly is not the dominant strain, but I would not be surprised at all if it is already here,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

Fauci also stated that he doesn’t think a travel ban is something that we could see happening. In essence, a travel ban “is really a rather dramatic step so, that’s not that’s not really in the cards right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the requirement of testing is something that is being actively considered right now,” Fauci said, referring to testing travelers before they arrive in the United States.

Americans are literally just settling into the idea of a vaccine for the initial strand of Covid that has grabbed the country and is causing hundreds of deaths and new cases daily. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a brief posted on its website Tuesday that the UK coronavirus variant has not been identified through research. Numbers that obviously can bring some sort of mental relief. However, the idea that the new strand is headed here if not already certainly causes concern. We will keep our eyes and ears on this as more details are made available.