Spring break, the next possible superspreader event, is right around the corner, and experts are warning that transmission of the highly-contagious U.K. variant of COVID-19 could accelerate.
“It’s the perfect storm,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN. He said that partying college kids can make the spread much, much worse. “You’ve got the B.1.1.7 variant accelerating in Florida. You’ve got all these 20-year-old kids.”
He continued, “None of them are going to have masks. They’re all going to be drinking. They’re having pretty close, intimate contact. And then, after that’s all done, they’re going to go back to their home states and spread the B.1.1.7 variant.”
Currently, most U.S. cases of the U.K. variant are in Florida, with data showing that the variant is 59 to 74 percent more transmissible than the original strain. “So this is not the time to have a superspreader event for that U.K. variant, which is what spring break in Florida would look like,” Hotez said. “This is not the time to be sending a bunch of 20-year-olds to Florida, then sending them back, disseminating it across the country.”
Hotez noted that other states, like Texas and Mississippi, could also elevate transmission since the states have rolled back on mask mandates. “A lot of (students) are going to go to South Texas as well, and that’s also a concern,” said Hotez, who added that the lack of mask rules could “accelerate COVID-19 nationally.”
He advised people to not travel unless they’ve received the vaccine or recently recovered from COVID. “I know it’s frustrating,” Hotez said. “But try to maximize social distancing and masks, and this may be the last spring break that you have to give up.”
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