THE IMPLICATIONS of new variants of the coronavirus, detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa, are potentially grave for the United States. We don't say that to be alarmist, but to be realistic. Although the new variants do not appear to be more lethal or more able to evade vaccines, the epidemiological data in recent weeks strongly suggests the virus is more transmissible by 50 percent or so. In the United States, that could lead to a surge like nothing we have yet seen. It makes the vaccine rollout more urgent than ever.
