CDC Warning - The Delta variant is one of the most transmissible diseases ever.
The Delta variant is one of the most transmissible diseases ever, said the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of, and that I have seen in my 20-year career,” Walensky said in the briefing.
The viral loads in Delta infections were around 1,000 times higher than those in earlier strain infections from when the pandemic first began, according to recent research from Guangdong CDC in China.
Walensky also touched on the problem of states, which are especially in the South and Midwest, with low vaccination rates and high prevalence of COVID-19. Those that are unvaccinated have much higher chance of being significantly affected by the Delta variant.
The region made up of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah had a rate of 93.4% of Delta variant cases among new COVID cases, according to Fortune’s vaccine tracker.
Among this group are some of the states with the lowest vaccination rates, including Wyoming (where 55.2% have had at least one dose) and North Dakota (56.3%). In the South, states such as Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi have vaccination rates near 50% while the Delta variant increases.
Despite the vaccine not protecting completely against COVID, it still protects against serious disease, he said. Available data shows vaccines are 96% effective in preventing COVID hospitalizations and deaths from Delta variant infections.