The Delta coronavirus variant is here, and it’s spreading. How much it impacts you and your local community depends on your vaccination status, and the vaccination status of your neighbors in your locale. There are stark differences in the vaccination rates between regions, states, counties, and within the counties.
If you are fully vaccinated, you are most likely to be safe. But in parts of the US where few people have gotten COVID vaccine shots, the Delta variant could trigger renewed deadly surges.
By Peter Aldhous
The Delta coronavirus variant, which devastated India and forced the UK to delay lifting its remaining coronavirus restrictions, is now on the rise in the US. What that means for you will depend on whether you are fully vaccinated and where you live.
Experts say we may be about to see the emergence of “two Americas” of COVID: One with high rates of vaccination where the Delta coronavirus variant poses little threat, and the other with low levels of vaccination that will be vulnerable to renewed deadly surges. That divide is driven in large part by partisan politics, with vaccination rates highest in liberal cities and lowest in conservative strongholds across the Deep South and in rural areas across the nation.
“I call it two COVID nations,” Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told BuzzFeed News.
Wherever there are low rates of vaccination, the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, increasing the risk that new, more dangerous variants will emerge. With vaccination across most of the world lagging far behind the US, the Delta variant is likely to be followed by others.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have been working hard to get more Americans vaccinated.
JUNE 18, 2021
But as I promised you from the beginning, I will always give it to you straight: the good, the bad, and the truth. And the truth is that deaths and hospitalizations are drastically down in places where people are getting vaccinated. But unfortunately, cases and hospitalizations are not going down
in many places in the lower-vaccination-rate states. They’re actually going up in some places.
A few days ago, we crossed 600,000 — 600,000 Americans dead from COVID, more than every death in World War One, World War Two, Vietnam, and 9/11 combined. So even while we’re making incredible progress, it remains a serious and deadly threat.
And the data is clear: If you are unvaccinated, you’re at risk of getting seriously ill or dying or spreading it. People getting seriously ill and being hospitalized due to COVID-19 are those who have not been fully vaccinated. The new variant will leave unvaccinated people even more vulnerable than they are a month ago — over a month ago.
This is a serious concern, especially because of what experts are calling the “Delta” vir- — the “Delta” variant. It’s a variant that is more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier, and particularly dangerous for young people.
But the good news is, we have the solution. The science and the data are clear: The best way to protect yourself against these variants are to get fully vaccinated.
So, please, please, if you have one shot, get the second shot as soon as you can so you’re fully vaccinated. And if you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, get vaccinated now. Now. Don’t put it off. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s convenient.
And as I said many times, text your ZIP Code to the numbers 438829 — 438829 — to find the sites where you can get vaccinated closest to you. Get your free Uber or Lyft ride to and from vaccination sites. I want to thank Uber and Lyft for their cooperation.
Use the extended hours at thousands of pharmacies in June, including thousands that are open 24/7 on Friday of this month. Most pharmacies now offer walk-in vaccinations. No appointment is needed.
Employers with less than 500 employees: The federal government is providing you a tax credit to give your workers paid time off to get vaccinated and recover if they need be.
And for anyone who still questions, that’s okay if you still have questions. But act — act now. Act now. Talk to your family and friends who’ve gotten the vac- — gotten vaccinated. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
According to the American Medical Association, over 90 percent of physicians are fully vaccinated. They’re making the choice to protect themselves and their communities and their patients. Follow their lead and make the choice for yourself.
UPDATE:
And
BY OLAFIMIHAN OSHIN
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation”, Gottlieb told host John Dickerson that the delta variant, a more infectious strain of the virus that has surged in the U.S. since spring, doesn’t appear to be more dangerous than other variants of the virus, but he noted it is infecting more members of unvaccinated communities, especially children.
“It doesn't necessarily appear more pathogenic, meaning more dangerous, but it's infecting people more easily and it's starting to become very prevalent in the UK in communities that are unvaccinated,” Gottlieb told Dickerson. ”So kids, for example, young people seem to be the population that's spreading it in the United Kingdom.”
So parents who have been hesitant to vaccinate their kids are probably doing exactly the wrong thing to protect them.