Delta Variant Spreads As Virginia Is Ahead In Vaccinations

VIRGINIA — The delta variant has become dominant in coronavirus cases across the United States, accounting for more than half of cases nationwide in the week that ended on July 3, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A number of clusters have been reported in states that are lagging on vaccinations, while vaccine numbers in Virginia are ahead of the national average.

Health experts have said that although the risk of getting sick from the delta variant is low for those who have been fully vaccinated, its spread could delay the end of the pandemic.

“Delta will certainly accelerate the pandemic” around the world, F. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, said in a statement.

The delta variant, which was first seen in India and was first detected in the United States in March, spreads 50 percent faster than the alpha variant that originated in Great Britain, which itself spreads 50 percent faster than the original coronavirus strain, according to Yale Medicine.

It accounted for 11.2 percent of coronavirus cases in Virginia over a four-week period ending on June 19, CDC numbers show. Just over half of the national coronavirus cases during a two-week period during that span involved the delta variant, Reuters reported.

Andy Slavitt, a former member of President Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, told CNN the delta variant is “the 2020 version of COVID-19 on steroids.”

“It’s twice as infectious,” Slavitt said. “Fortunately, unlike 2020, we actually have a tool that stops the delta variant in its tracks: It’s called vaccine.”

That’s evidenced in North Carolina, among other states, where the state’s health secretary said more than 99 percent of the new cases there have occurred in people who are not fully vaccinated, according to WITN.

As of July 8, 24 states were looking at a coronavirus case weekly uptick of 10 percent or more, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

States within regions showing a high cluster of delta variant cases are among those lagging in vaccination rates, WBUR and others have reported. In the region including Virginia, the delta variant accounted for 31.4 percent of recent cases, a map from Fortune.com shows.

Virginia has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. On Friday, the seven-day moving average was 200 cases, the highest average in a month. On June 9, the state reported a seven-day average of 204 COVID-19 cases, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

In Virginia, 62.8 percent of people age 18 and up have been fully vaccinated. That compares with the 58.5 percent national vaccine rate as of July 8.

Loudoun County has the highest vaccination rate among counties in Northern Virginia. In the county, 76.6 percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 69.4 percent of adults in the county are fully vaccinated.

In Fairfax County, 74.8 percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 66.9 percent are fully vaccinated. In Prince William County, 69.4 percent of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 61.3 of adults are fully vaccinated. In Arlington County, 69.1 percent of adults have received at least one dose, and 61.3 percent are fully vaccinated, according to the VDH.