The latest mutation of the novel coronavirus, known as the ‘Delta Variant,’ is wreaking havoc in pockets of states across the US.
Current Events
Thanks to the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the COVID pandemic has been deeply diminished by the 46% of Americans nationally who have done their due diligence in getting vaccinated. However, for those who either continue to believe COVID is a hoax or simply refuse to get the vaccine, they are providing a fertile breeding ground for the virus to continue to survive and spread from person to person.
In Los Angeles County, spread of the Delta Variant has been so significant, officials have reinstated mask guidelines for public indoor spaces regardless of vaccination status.
At the headquarters of the World Health Organization, WHO officials have issued a warning to those who have been fully vaccinated to wear masks in places with high rates of Covid-19.
However, it’s the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wyoming (all Republican-leaning states with low vaccination rates) that are being hit the hardest and creating the deadliest consequences.
In Arkansas (where only 33% of residents are fully vaccinated), Gov. Asa Hutchinson is urging residents to protect themselves from the Delta Variant and to get the vaccine.
“We’ve got to make sure we do everything we can to get the word out, which we have,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said to the nearly 73% of residents in his state who are not vaccinated. “We have used incentives that have not been very successful. We’ve obviously done marketing for our vaccines. We are educating, doing everything we can. And we’re up to 50% of adults already [who] are vaccinated, but we’ve got to get that higher. We’re doing everything we can to encourage that,” he added.
“People in their late teens and even early 20s are being hospitalized and needing the use of ventilators,” warned Katie Towns, acting director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department in Missouri.
Doctors predict the Delta Variant could be responsible for a resurgence of Covid-19 in the fall — just as children too young to get vaccinated are going back to school.
Have we removed our masks and returned to normal far too soon? Could the Delta Variant turn the clock back on the coronavirus and cripple or completely shut down the country once again due to a rapid spread among the unvaccinated? Or, will the Delta Variant simply go quietly into the night as so many COVID strains have done before it?
New York Times: The spread of the Delta variant in relatively unvaccinated parts of the U.S. is getting worse. Nationwide, the number of new Covid-19 cases is holding steady. But that steadiness hides two dueling realities, in two different Americas. In many urban and suburban communities, Covid continues to plummet. The rate of new daily cases has fallen below three per 100,000 residents in large cities like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington. As a point of comparison, the national rate of new daily cases peaked last winter above 75 per 100,000 people. But in less populated areas — which tend to be more politically conservative and skeptical of vaccines — the virus is now surging, largely from the contagious Delta variant. The states with the worst outbreaks are Arkansas and Missouri (each with more than 16 new daily cases per 100,000 people)… Read more »