US can manage BA2 variant without disruption, top Covid adviser predicts

The White House Covid response coordinator Ashish Jha appeared to undercut the Biden administration’s efforts to reinstate the federal mask mandate on Sunday, stating that the spreading BA.2 variant in the US was unlikely to have much effect on the nation’s pandemic recovery.

The justice department announced last week it would appeal the decision of a federal judge in Florida to prematurely lift the mandate on air, rail and bus travel in the US, based on the assertion by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that “an order requiring masking in the indoor transportation corridor remains necessary for the public health”.

With cases rising again in the US, Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious diseases expert, told CNN he was “disappointed” by the judge’s ruling and that “this is a CDC issue – it should not have been a court issue.”

But in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Jha said that while he was “concerned” about the spread of Omicron variants including BA.2, he did not see it having any significant impact.

“We’re going to see cases go up, we’re going to see cases go down, the key things [are] making sure that hospitalizations and deaths are not rising in any substantial way,” he said. “I’m concerned, I’m gonna watch those numbers. But at this point, I remain confident that we’re gonna get through this without disruption.”