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- The variant has become dominant in many parts of the U.S.
- “The delta variant is going to move its way through the country over the course of August and September, maybe into October. That’s what the modeling shows, that’s what we expected,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC.
- “It’s going to get worse before it gets better in terms of the spread of this infection right now,” he added.
Former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Scott Gottlieb says the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus will continue spreading across the U.S. for several months, as “the worst is yet to come.”
The variant has become dominant in many parts of the U.S., and cases are on the rise as infections soar among various swaths of the country with lagging vaccination rates.
“If you’re in a location where there is dense spread, and there’s parts of the country where it’s very dense right now, I think people need to start taking precautions, including people who are fully vaccinated if you’re a vulnerable individual,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday.
“The delta variant is going to move its way through the country over the course of August and September, maybe into October. That’s what the modeling shows, that’s what we expected, that the peak of this epidemic would really be sometime around the end of September, back-to-school season,” he said.
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“It’s going to get worse before it gets better in terms of the spread of this infection right now,” he added.
The rate of new cases over this past week are at least 10 percent higher than the week prior in 47 states, with 35 states experiencing increases of more than 50 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Officials say nearly all hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among those who have yet to receive the vaccine, as the current immunizations being administered have shown to protect against the variant.
More than 65 percent of eligible Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine and 56 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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