Numerous people in the USA are infected with Corona despite being vaccinated. The war against the virus has changed because of the delta variant, warns the CDC.
Washington DC – For a long time it had turned out as if normal life was returning to the United States. The country impressed with its vaccination rate, new corona infections and deaths fell sharply. But now the United States is being shaken up by the Delta variant. It must be “acknowledged that the war has changed,” said an internal CDC presentation published by the Washington Post.
In view of the widespread use of the Delta variant, the CDC recently adjusted its guidelines: It now recommends that vaccinated people wear masks again in many closed rooms. The reason for the adjustment was the results of a much noticed study on a corona outbreak in the state of Massachusetts, published on Friday (July 30th, 2021).
Corona in the USA: Vaccinated people infected with Delta variant
After the national holiday on July 4th, authorities had found more than 900 positive coronavirus tests in the tourist town of Provincetown. The authorities examined 469 corona cases more closely – with astonishing results. In the outbreak around several major events, almost 75 percent of those infected had full vaccination protection, the majority were infected with the delta variant.
Vaccinated people whose corona infections were examined also carried high viral loads, reported the CDC. The epidemic protection authority is alarmed by the results. High viral loads indicated an increased risk of transmission “and give cause for concern that, unlike other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can pass the virus on,” said the director of the health authority, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
USA: Do the corona vaccinations offer good protection against the Delta variant?
So can vaccinated people spread the delta variant of the coronavirus just as easily as people without vaccination protection? When asked by the New York Times, Walensky wrote in an email: “We believe this is possible on an individual level.” In the paper published by the Washington Post, however, the CDC did not question the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Even at Delta, these continued to protect against severe corona courses or death with a high probability. Protection against infection also exists, but it seems weaker. Many other experts also believe that the vaccines are highly effective in preventing hospital admissions, severe disease and death.
Corona: Delta variant as contagious as chickenpox
In the document, the CDC comes to the conclusion that Delta is probably more dangerous than the original coronavirus and that sick people experience more severe courses. In addition, the infectiousness of the delta variant is similar to that of chickenpox. According to the Robert Koch Institute, 90 out of 100 people become infected with exposure to the varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox.
“We spent so much time, energy, and money last year trying to figure out how this damn virus works and what it does,” said Dr. Robert Wachter from the University of California at the New York Times. To learn how much the Delta variant differs from the original virus was “just shocking,” he added. “The mind doesn’t like being pushed around like that.”
According to older information, the highly contagious form of the coronavirus accounts for more than 80 percent of all infections in the USA – but this number is now likely to be significantly higher. Meanwhile, the vaccine campaign is stagnating with 50 percent fully vaccinated US citizens, further fueling the spread of the Delta variant. In the spring, the United States was still a prime example of the rapid administration of vaccines.
Vaccination pace slows: Delta variant of the corona virus is spreading rapidly in the USA
A look at the new infections shows that the delta variant is spreading rapidly in the USA. Authorities reported 194,608 new cases for Friday (07/30/2021), according to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU). A week earlier it was 118,797. The number of deaths reported within one day with a confirmed corona infection also increased from 532 to 891 in a weekly comparison.
The previous highs were recorded on January 2 with 300,462 new corona infections and on January 12 with 4,460 deaths. So far, a good 34.9 million people in the USA have been infected with the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen, and more than 613,000 people have died. (Tim Vincent Dicke with dpa)
Headline list image: © Spencer Platt / AFP
