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dpa
Los Angeles
The Delta variant of the coronavirus is beginning to spread in California, offering a preview of how the battle of the pandemic is going to change as officials move to protect a shrinking minority who remain at risk because they have not been vaccinated.
The Delta variant may be twice as transmissible as the conventional strain. But California and the rest of the nation are far more protected against COVID-19 than ever before.
California has one of the highest vaccination rates in the nation, and the US has one of the highest per capita rates of inoculation in the world.
And vaccines available in the US are believed to be effective against the Delta variant, as they have been for all known variants.
But that still leaves tens of millions of unvaccinated people still potentially vulnerable.
“If you’re vaccinated, it’s nothing,” UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr George Rutherford said of the Delta variant. “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re hosed.” Officials don’t expect another deadly COVID-19 surge on the order of those that walloped the nation three times in the past 15 months.
Rather, the risk is more that the Delta variant will take root in pockets of unimmunized communities that haven’t been previously been infected with the coronavirus.
This is the kind of future experts expect: one in which most of the population, who are vaccinated, are well protected against the world’s worst pandemic in the last century, while risks remain for those who aren’t vaccinated.
Now, “nearly every death due to COVID-19 is particularly tragic,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “because nearly every death - especially among adults - due to COVID-19 is, at this point, entirely preventable.”
California is particularly well placed to deal with the Delta variant, with 73% of the state’s adults having received at least one dose of vaccine - even better than the respectable national rate of 66% - and because many other Californians have survived COVID-19 from past surges.
“We will never see the surges that were overwhelming our hospital system,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, medical epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Nationwide, the average number of new coronavirus cases reported daily has fallen to about 11,000 - one of the lowest numbers since the beginning of the pandemic and a 96% decline from the peak of more than 252,000 cases a day reported in early January.
Los Angeles
The Delta variant of the coronavirus is beginning to spread in California, offering a preview of how the battle of the pandemic is going to change as officials move to protect a shrinking minority who remain at risk because they have not been vaccinated.
The Delta variant may be twice as transmissible as the conventional strain. But California and the rest of the nation are far more protected against COVID-19 than ever before.
California has one of the highest vaccination rates in the nation, and the US has one of the highest per capita rates of inoculation in the world.
And vaccines available in the US are believed to be effective against the Delta variant, as they have been for all known variants.
But that still leaves tens of millions of unvaccinated people still potentially vulnerable.
“If you’re vaccinated, it’s nothing,” UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr George Rutherford said of the Delta variant. “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re hosed.” Officials don’t expect another deadly COVID-19 surge on the order of those that walloped the nation three times in the past 15 months.
Rather, the risk is more that the Delta variant will take root in pockets of unimmunized communities that haven’t been previously been infected with the coronavirus.
This is the kind of future experts expect: one in which most of the population, who are vaccinated, are well protected against the world’s worst pandemic in the last century, while risks remain for those who aren’t vaccinated.
Now, “nearly every death due to COVID-19 is particularly tragic,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “because nearly every death - especially among adults - due to COVID-19 is, at this point, entirely preventable.”
California is particularly well placed to deal with the Delta variant, with 73% of the state’s adults having received at least one dose of vaccine - even better than the respectable national rate of 66% - and because many other Californians have survived COVID-19 from past surges.
“We will never see the surges that were overwhelming our hospital system,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, medical epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Nationwide, the average number of new coronavirus cases reported daily has fallen to about 11,000 - one of the lowest numbers since the beginning of the pandemic and a 96% decline from the peak of more than 252,000 cases a day reported in early January.
