CDC estimates state that the more dangerous and quickly transmissible strain of coronavirus known as the Delta variant is hitting the USA and is making up more than half of the new Covid-19 infections.
Delta Variant Overtakes Maximum Cases Of Coronavirus In The US!
The Center for Disease Control and its Prevention (CDC) reports that the new delta variant accounts for almost 51.7% of the latest infections of the coronavirus. The Alpha variant of the B.1.1.7 has dominated for months now, accounting for around 28.7% of the cases.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told Anderson Cooper from CNN that this variant was the reason ever to get vaccinated.
Dr. Fauci is the director of the reputed National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He further adds that the variant acts as a ‘significant threat’ to those who are yet ‘unvaccinated.’
He further adds that the variant is very transmissible and can increase the severity of the disease.
The health officials also give their input by saying that the people living in areas where the vaccination rate is low are at more risk.
The Dean of Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish Jha, states that they have already started to observe places with low vaccination rates resulting in a relatively large spike in the spread of infections from the Delta variant. Especially Missouri, Arkansas, Wyoming are some places where they are going to face more hospitalizations and deaths, which is very unfortunate.
Jha further adds that they expect a large outbreak anytime, and it may become a breeding ground for more potential variants.
The infectious disease experts state that the unvaccinated people are factories for the variant.
Furthermore, the Center for Disease Control and its Prevention director says that the US is struggling with more contagious variants than the novel coronavirus’s original strain. Amongst these variants is a ‘stickier’ Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) which has been one dominating strain recently in the US, along with a highly contagious Delta variant (B.1.617.2) which is not far behind to become the most dominant strain for the whole of US.
A professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. William Schaffner, has a lot to say. According to him, a more number of unvaccinated people will lead to more opportunities for virus multiplication. He further adds that when the virus mutates the next, it would be dangerous enough to throw a new variant mutation which may be more severe than the previous in the long run.
CDC has identified the states having low vaccination rates, such as Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama, along with parts of the Southwest, South, and Midwest that are experiencing spikes in the cases.
The latest data from Johns Hopkins University shows that there has been an upsurge in new cases of COVID-19 by three times in the states having a low rate of vaccination or having a below-average rate of vaccination compared to the states having an above-average rate of vaccination.
Some health experts say that though the vaccines are highly effective, they are not perfect. So, despite being fully vaccinated, one needs to wear masks in certain places.
Jha says that if one finds themselves in an area with high vaccination and low infection, then they may not wear a mask indoors if they are fully vaccinated. However, if one is fully vaccinated but is in southwest Missouri, they should wear a mask even indoors.
An associate professor of all emergency medicines at the Brown University, Dr. Megan Ranney, says that the young unvaccinated adults will pose a problem if there is another surge of COVID-19 infections.
The West Virginia governor, Jim Justice, encourages and motivates parents and grandparents of young adults between the ages of 12 to 35 to get vaccinated.
Justice says that if a person is not vaccinated, they are a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution if a delta variant increases.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, even the vaccinated parents of unvaccinated children should wear a mask indoors.
However, the health experts say that the best protection against the variants is to get vaccinated.