The United States is now dealing with the delta variant of the coronavirus, a highly contagious variant that was first identified in India in December As with previous variants, the delta variant has spread to many countries across the world, including, most notably, the United Kingdom, where it’s now responsible for around 99% of new cases The United States first announced that it had diagnosed a case with the delta variant in March this year It’s now the dominating variant nationwide, making up more than half of all new infections in the country
Confirmed infections with the delta variant have also been doubling since June The average is more than 24,000 a day, according to data from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) This rise has been attributed, in part, to the delta variant being an estimated 60% more transmissible than the alpha variant, according to recent research Additionally, areas with low vaccination rates are more likely to see a surge in infections
Low vaccine uptake driving up infections
“The unvaccinated population is at high risk for infection If this variant continues to move quickly, especially in areas of low vaccination rates, the U.S could see a surge in SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said Dr Miriam Smith, chief of infectious disease at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Teaching Hospital in Queens, New York City
CDC Director Dr Rochelle WalenskyTrusted Source issued a warning on this potential surge earlier this month In a press briefing, she said preliminary data suggested that 99.5 percent of the people who died from Covid-19 since January were unvaccinated “We know that the delta variant… is currently surging in pockets of the country with low vaccination rates,” she said
In Missouri, which has a vaccination rate of 40.26%, confirmed coronavirus infections have almost doubled in the past 2 weeks In contrast, Vermont reported only 32 cases on July 12 and currently has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country at 67.70% This echoes findings from a U.K studyTrusted Source that found the delta variant twice as likely to lead to hospitalisation, and both the AstraZeneca-Oxford and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines being effective in reducing this risk
“We also know that our authorized vaccines prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death from the delta variant,” Walensky said Source: Business Times
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Source: Businesstimes
