More new data seems to be driving U.S. states to seriously consider vaccine mandates and universal mask requirements in view of a declassified Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s internal paper which delved on results of tedious research showing the transmissibility of mutated COVID-19 strain aptly referred to as the Delta variant.
According to the CDC, “the war has changed,” in reference to the pandemic response policy of several U.S. states, including Texas.
The CDC internal paper explicitly issued a warning on how transmissions could actually take place as far as the Delta variant is concerned. The same study described the Delta variant as so vicious that even vaccinated persons could be infected with the mutated strain and get to pass it on to other people.
Other than transmissibility, the document also warned that the regenerated virus may potentially result in more serious ailments than what the previous coronavirus strains could.
The document, titled “Improving communications around vaccine breakthrough and vaccine effectiveness,” said that the Delta variant required a different approach to educate the public about the threat, including making it clear that unvaccinated people were more than 10 times more likely to become seriously ill or die than those who were vaccinated.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has already confirmed the authenticity of the slide presentation. “I think people need to understand that we’re not crying wolf here. This is serious,” Dr. Walensky was quoted as saying in an earlier television interview.
“It’s one of the most transmissible viruses we know about. Measles, chickenpox, this — they’re all up there,” she added as the CDC data conformed with Walensky’s controversial decision to change guidance for fully vaccinated people.
Dr. Walensky reiterated her recommendation for the state leaders to recommend the use of protective masks even for fully vaccinated people indoors — including schools — where virus transmission is considered high.
The CDC director particularly cited the need for students, staff, and visitors to wear masks at all times.
“The measures we need to get this under control — they’re extreme. The measures you need are extreme,” Dr. Walensky said during the interview, adding that the data didn’t come in as surprising — “It was the synthesis of the data all in one place that was sobering.”
CDC findings also tend to decimate other previous COVID-19 variants which shows an infected person’s ability to pass on the virus to two other persons.
For Dr. Walensky, a singular Delta variant individual — regardless of whether he or she is vaccinated or otherwise — could actually pass on the infection to eight to nine other persons.
Aside from Dr. Walensky, Dr. Walter Orenstein, head of the Emory Vaccine Center shares the same science-backed findings. “The bottom line was that, in contrast to the other variants, vaccinated people, even if they didn’t get sick, got infected and shed virus at similar levels as unvaccinated people who got infected,” said Dr. Orestein.
If there’s anything good from being vaccinated, it is the fact that they’ll be spared from severe ailments, added Dr. Orenstein in concurrence to the CDC study. A part of it reads: “Vaccines prevent more than 90% of severe disease but may be less effective at preventing infection or transmission. Therefore, more breakthroughs and more communities spread despite vaccination.”
