Variable delta gains ground among unvaccinated

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At Cheyenne Regional Medical Center in Wyoming, health workers did not need genetic sequencing to tell them that a highly contagious delta variant had arrived.

Younger patients started coming in about two months ago with Covid-19 symptoms. Sudini Tintenta, the hospital’s critical care physician, said many patients progressed from mild illness to shortness of breath faster than patients treated early in the pandemic. Almost all of them have not been vaccinated.

“We can see that this wasn’t Covid last year,” Dr. Tintinta said.

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The delta variable is widening the gap between people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and those who are not, prompting hospitals to prepare for a surge in new cases and health authorities to redouble their vaccination efforts. Now the most common strain in the United States, Delta is spreading as public life resumes at restaurants, sporting events, and other public places across the country.

Infections from the Delta strain contributed to a 10% rise in daily Covid-19 cases to about 12,600 late last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. This still represents a 95% drop from peak levels in the US in January. The CDC said hospital admissions linked to Covid-19 were down 1% from the previous week. Studies have shown that vaccines available in the United States protect against the delta variant, and it appears that cases of superinfection in full vaccination rarely result in severe disease.

For the unvaccinated, the delta variant is an increased threat. It’s about 50% more transmissible than the alpha strain that has been the most common strain in the US since March, and scientists believe delta is linked to more serious disease. CDC Director Rochelle Walinsky said Thursday that preliminary data collected from a group of US states over the past six months showed that 99.5% of people who died of Covid-19 had not been vaccinated.

“It is clear that communities where people remain vulnerable are communities that remain vulnerable,” she said.

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Los Angeles County public health officials urged all people last week to wear a mask in public in public places, regardless of their vaccination status due to the delta variant. In Arkansas, 34.5% of the population is fully vaccinated, 13 percentage points lower than the national average, according to the CDC. The weekly rate of 110 new cases per 100,000 Arkansas residents is the highest in the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC data shows that Wyoming is not far behind, with 85 new cases per 100,000 residents. In Laramie County, which includes Cheyenne, the delta variant is prevalent in a population where 32% of people are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, compared to 47% of the US population overall.

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“You have this disgusting feeling that there are people out there who might not make it through because of the wrong choices,” said Dr. Tetinta of Cheyenne Regional.

Click here to read the full article at WSJ.com.

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