NYC Coronavirus Variant Likely Started In Wash Heights: Fauci

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The homegrown coronavirus variant from New York City is concerningly "gaining" across the five boroughs and likely started in Washington Heights, Anthony Fauci said Monday.

Early research into the recently-discovered variant — dubbed B.1.526 — shows signs it could evade monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19 and, to a certain extent, vaccine-induced antibodies, said Fauci, the famed director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

He mentioned Washington Heights specifically when speaking about where the NYC variant originated.

"Well, we certainly are taking the New York variant, the 526, very seriously," Fauci said speaking to White House reporters. "You know, as you know, it started off in what is likely in the Washington Heights section, and then has gone through multiple boroughs, and is now gaining."

Fauci's words jumped off what two early studies already found — the variant is present in up to 25 percent of coronavirus samples and shows signs it could make COVID-19 treatments and vaccines less effective.

• New COVID Strain Prevalent In Upper Manhattan, Researchers Find

But his words didn't come with the reassurance Mayor Bill de Blasio and his top health advisers offered when news about the variant broke last week.

De Blasio said New Yorkers shouldn't assume the worst until more research is done.
Fauci, for his part, didn't spell all doom and gloom. He mostly reiterated the research and said more study is needed.

But he did note that the variant could have originated in an immunocompromised person.

"What I think is important — because we often get asked the question that's a reasonable question: Should people who are immunocompromised get vaccinated?'" he said. "And the answer is, 'Absolutely, yes.' Absolutely, yes. Because that's not only important for them for their own health, but that could be the breeding ground of the emergence of variants for the simple reason that, if you don't clear the virus rapidly, you're going to have immunological selection within a given individual."

Patch reporter Matt Troutman contributed to this report.