Delta Variant Accounts for 83% of New Cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.
By Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P]
Delta Variant 90% Deaths of the month
The Delta variantThe highly transmissible and infectious strain of the coronavirus now accounts for 83 percent of all sequenced COVID-19 positive cases in the U.S., representing a "dramatic increase" in numbers since the beginning of the month when it became the leading variant in the country.
This was stated by Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).CDCThe percentage increases in those places where vaccination is still very low.
During a Senate health committee hearing on Tuesday, the official pointed out that while nearly 60 percent of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated, in fact, only less than half of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated.
The lowest vaccination rates are found in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, and consequently infection rates are among the highest in these states.
The state of Alabama ranks last in vaccination rate, with only 42.4 percent of its adult population fully vaccinated, while Vermont ranks first with 77.3 percent.
Walensky also detailed that COVID-19 deaths have increased by nearly 48 percent over the past week to an average of 239 deaths per day.
"Every death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that most of these deaths could be prevented with a simple and safe vaccine," he said.
Two-dose vaccines have been shown to be effective against the Delta variant, however, doubts remain about Johnson & Johnson's single-dose regimen against the Delta variant.
During the last two weeks, the rate of COVID-19 infection in the country has increased by 195 percent. While the national vaccination campaign has significantly decreased, after the country administered 521 thousand doses daily, which means a decrease of 85 percent since April when 3.38 million doses were administered daily.
Just last week, Walensky said that "this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We are seeing outbreaks of cases in areas of the country with low vaccination coverage. Communities that are fully vaccinated are generally doing well."
Currently, the Delta variant represents a major challenge to control the epidemic worldwide, because although the U.S. has a large number of vaccines, the real challenge is that people want to be immunized.
For his part, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned of the possible emergence of new variants of the virus that could prove "even more dangerous than Delta".
"The more transmission, the more variants will emerge with the potential to be even more dangerous than the Delta strain that is causing so much devastation now. And the more variants there are, the greater the likelihood that one of them will evade vaccines and take us all back to square one," the official said Wednesday in a speech at the 138th session of the International Olympic Committee.
No one can feel safe "until we are all safe".
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