Fauci: Mu COVID variant not an "immediate threat" to U.S.

• Mu has been detected in 39 countries, and has been increasingly prevalent in South America. It currently makes up 39% of cases in Colombia and 13% in Ecuador.

The big picture: Fauci said that while officials are "keeping a very close eye" on Mu's presence in the U.S., the variant is "not at all even close to being dominant."

• The Delta variant, he added, is "more than 99% dominant."
• “We’re paying attention to it, we take everything like that seriously, but we don’t consider it an immediate threat right now,”

But, but, but: Fauci said there isn't much clinical data available yet, and most of the information was coming from laboratory in-vitro data.

• "Not to downplay it, we take it very seriously, but remember, even when you have variants that do diminish somewhat the efficacy of the vaccines, the vaccines still are quite effective against variants of that type," Fauci said.