The Delta variant is a more infectious and potentially more dangerous strain of coronavirus, currently accounts for over half of the new Covid-19 infections in the US, according to data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Research suggests that Delta accounts for 51.7% of new US infections. The Alpha variant, also known as the B.1.1.7, which dominated the country for months, currently accounts for less than a third of the cases.
Dr Anthony Faucy said that this is the sign that everybody must get vaccinated if anybody was still waiting for one in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, explained that Delta poses a considerable threat to unvaccinated individuals.
Fauci also added that the variant is more transmissible and can provoke more severe disease.
People in regions with low vaccination rates are particularly at risk, according to health officials.
Dr Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said:
“We’re already starting to see places with low vaccination rates starting to have relatively big spikes from the Delta variant. We’ve seen this in Arkansas, Missouri, Wyoming … those are the places where we’re going to see more hospitalizations and deaths as well, unfortunately.”
“Any time you have large outbreaks, it does become a breeding ground for potentially more variants,” Jha added.
The US is already fighting variants that are more contagious than the original strain of the novel coronavirus, including B.1.1.7, dubbed the “Stickier” Alpha variant, and the Delta variant, which will soon become the dominant strain.
