Source / information
Published by:
Source:
Healio interviews.
Disclosure:
Butler, Karan, Marrazzo and Pai do not report any relevant financial information.
ADD SUBJECT TO EMAIL ALERTS
Receive an email when new articles are published on
Please enter your email address to receive an email when new articles are published on . “data-action = subscribe> Subscribe
We could not process your request. Please try again later. If this problem persists, please contact [email protected].
Back to Healio
After weeks of declining case numbers followed by a plateau, the United States is seeing COVID-19 spikes again in many parts of the country, a CDC official warned this week.
According to Jay C. Servant, MD, the CDC’s assistant director on infectious diseases, cases rose from 20,000 a day to about 50,000 a day, accompanied by an increase in hospital admissions and tests.
Delta has become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in the USA.
Source: National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases.
Test positive is up to 3.5%, although deaths related to COVID-19 are not increasing and remain constant at less than 200 per day, Butler said during a media talk hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Jay C. servant
Gitanjali Pai
The increases are partly due to the fact that the delta variant is becoming the dominant SARS-CoV-2 virus in the country. The variant, first identified in India, is estimated to be the cause of more than 51% of new COVID-19 cases, noted the editor of Infectious Disease News Gitanjali Pai, M.D., AAHIVS, FIDSA.
“Current estimates point to an aggressive spread of the Delta variant in several parts of the country,” said Pai, chief medical officer of the Oklahoma State Department of Health and an infectious disease doctor at Memorial Hospital and Physicians’ Clinic in Stilwell. Oklahoma, said Healio.
Butler said that while the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, although the Delta variant is more easily transmissible, will remain effective against it.
“Any variation that arises affects us in terms of [changing] the severity of the disease, [affecting] Treatment options and, most importantly, for those of us concerned about COIVD-19 prevention, when they affect the vaccine’s effectiveness, “Butler said.
As of July 13, more than 56% of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated and two-thirds received at least one dose, according to CDC tracking. Although there have been rare breakthrough infections, “we see no evidence of deteriorating immunity in people who were vaccinated as early as January,” Butler said.
Jeanne M. Marrazzo
Abraar Karan
Member of the editorial board of Infectious Diseases News Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH, FACP, FIDSA, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Endowed Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at the Birmingham School of Medicine, said the US should be concerned about the potential of the Delta variant to change the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US
“The impressive increase in worrying results – not just the number of cases, but hospital admissions, mostly among the unvaccinated – correlates directly with Delta becoming the predominant burden in the US,” she told Healio. “Increased transmission efficiency will facilitate faster spread among unvaccinated individuals and faster adoption among the small minority of vaccinated individuals – 5 to 10% – for whom the vaccine is not effective.”
Marrazzo said areas with “sub-optimal” vaccination should be closely monitored for transmission.
“The primary concern with Delta is that it will be transmitted more effectively and we have large pockets of unvaccinated people in the country.” Abraar Karan, MD, MPH, DTM & H, an internal medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said Healio.
“Given that many feel the pandemic is ‘over’, I worry that we will hit a vaccination plateau that is lower than it should be,” Karan said.
Although the approved vaccines are slightly less effective at preventing symptomatic disease from Delta, they are very effective at preventing serious death and illness, Pai noted. In the case of two-dose vaccines, taking both vaccines offers much better protection against Delta compared to partial vaccination, Pai said.
“This is a sincere appeal to all health care providers, patients, friends, family and loved ones to encourage them to get vaccinated,” she said. “As healthcare providers, we must continue to do our part as credible and trustworthy members of our communities. If we vaccinate as many people as possible ASAP and get the word out, we will get to the other side of this pandemic faster. “
How long vaccine immunity or immunity to natural infections will protect against all strains, including Delta, is unclear.
“Only time will tell,” said Karan.
ADD SUBJECT TO EMAIL ALERTS
Receive an email when new articles are published on
Please enter your email address to receive an email when new articles are published on . “data-action = subscribe> Subscribe
We could not process your request. Please try again later. If this problem persists, please contact [email protected].
Back to Healio
