- The Delta variant, a more transmissible and possibly more dangerous strain of coronavirus, now makes up more than half of all new Covid-19 infections in the US.
- Delta accounts for 51.7% of new infections in the US, according to the CDC.
- The B.1.1.7, or Alpha variant, which has dominated for months, now accounts for 28.7% of cases.
A recent news source published in CNN by Madeline Holcombe, Holly Yan and Theresa Waldrop states that Delta variant now makes up more than half of coronavirus cases in US.
The impact of Delta variant
The variant poses a “significant threat,” to unvaccinated people Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said.
The variant is not only more transmissible, it can also cause more severe disease, Fauci said.
And people in areas where the vaccination rate is low are especially at risk, health officials say.
“We’re already starting to see places with low vaccination rates starting to have relatively big spikes from the Delta variant. We’ve seen this in Arkansas, Missouri, Wyoming … those are the places where we’re going to see more hospitalizations and deaths as well, unfortunately,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
“Any time you have large outbreaks, it does become a breeding ground for potentially more variants,” Jha said.
Virus may multiply
The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply.
Parts of the South, Southwest and Midwest are starting to see spikes in cases, and many of those states — such as Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi — are among those with the lowest rates of vaccination.
States with below-average vaccination rates have almost triple the rate of new Covid-19 cases compared to states with above-average vaccination rates.
Unvaccinated young adults
If there is another Covid-19 surge, unvaccinated young adults could be a big part of the problem, said Dr. Megan Ranney, associate professor of emergency medicine at Brown University.
“We’ve already seen that the highest number of infections over the past few months have been in those younger adults,” said Ranney, who’s also an emergency physician and director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health.
What could this mean for a return to school?
Children who are unvaccinated are still at high risk for infection, Wen said.
She said she disagreed with governors such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has banned public schools from requiring face masks.
“These governors that have said that schools no longer need masks indoors, that’s a big mistake,” Wen said.
Considering mental health concerns and educational outcomes, Wen said she thinks it’s best to have kids back to school — full time and in-person this fall.
But even mild cases of the Covid-19 can have long-term impacts for children, so safety precautions shouls be taken, she said.
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Source: CNN
