Throngs of people are gathering at airports, NBA games, and events around the country as Americans begin to resume their pre-pandemic lives. But the COVID-19 pandemic is still far from over as the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, is spreading in several countries.
Delta variant is way more deadly than the Alpha variant
Health experts are concerned about the transmission of the extremely dangerous Delta variant of COVID-19 because only 45 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and only 16 states have immunized more than half of their people. According to infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm, it is 60 percent more deadly than the Alpha form identified in the United Kingdom that was the last significant concern.
Osterholm said that they can anticipate observing rises in cases in locations where there is a big population of unvaccinated persons, in some cases testing the health care capabilities of that particular area.
Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, is struggling with an overflow of patients. The hospital is keeping patients in the ER, delaying on admissions, delaying on discharges on any given day, according to Mercy Hospital President Craig McCoy.
Only 32% of Springfield’s encircling county is immunized and COVID-19 hospitalization rates have increased by more than 210 percent since June 1. Maybe the most concerning is the fact that 90 percent of all COVID specimens sequenced in that area test positive for the Delta variation.
According to McCoy, nearly every single COVID-19 patient at his hospital is unvaccinated. “We’ve only had two that have come out as in-patients that have been fully vaccinated. The vaccine, from everything we can see, does appear to be effective against the Delta variant,” he said.
Although there are hints that immunizations are helping America push back the epidemic, also there are signals of a new COVID-19 surge on the surface.
People should get vaccinated to avoid contracting Delta variant
The Delta variation, according to Osterholm, will undoubtedly be a new wave. However, if people refuse to get vaccinated, the virus will reach them.
