5 Things You Need to Know About the, Delta Variant.
At the beginning of the summer, people were feeling optimistic about the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Unfortunately, a new worrisome strain of COVID-19 has emerged: the Delta variant.
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Here are five things you need to know about the Delta variant.
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The Delta variant is extremely contagious.
In an internal memo obtained by the 'New York Times,' the CDC called the variant as contagious as chickenpox.
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Even “breakthrough cases” seem to carry a large amount of virus in their noses and throats.
This means vaccinated people are able to spread Delta.
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Unvaccinated individuals are most at risk when it comes to the Delta variant.
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This includes immunocompromised people who are unable to get the vaccine and children under 12 years old, for whom a vaccine has yet to be approved.
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3.
Delta could lead to the formation of drastic “hotspots” around the country.
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This means that if a poorly-vaccinated area is surrounded by regions with high vaccination rates, COVID-19 could become trapped within its borders.
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This could lead to local health care systems becoming overwhelmed, which would result in more deaths.
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We have much more to learn about the Delta variant.
This includes what symptoms it causes and whether it makes people more severely sick than the original strain.
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A recent survey in the U.K. found that traditional COVID-19 symptoms, such as a cough and loss of smell, are not as common with the Delta variant.
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5.
Being fully vaccinated is the best protection you can possibly have against Delta.
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Pfizer has found its vaccine to be 88 percent effective against symptomatic disease and 96 percent effective against hospitalization from Delta.
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Moderna reports that its vaccine is effective against Delta with only a “modest reduction in neutralizing titers” observed in its studies.
