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The Delta variant has become the new cause of concern for health experts in the US, with the strain now reported in all but one state and accounting for more than 20 percent of all COVID-19 cases as it threatens to become the dominant strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Among those being hit hardest by the moire-spreadable virus are those with the lowest vaccination rates, the CDC noted, raising new concerns that another wave of the virus could hit the US.
As of Monday, June 28, Massachusetts (60.95 percent of population fully vaccinated), Connecticut (60.03 percent), New Jersey (54.24 percent), and New York (53.7 percent) were all among the top 10 most vaccinated states.
The least vaccinated states, as of June 28:
- Mississippi: 29.33 percent of population fully vaccinated;
- Alabama: 32.31 percent;
- Arkansas: 33.91 percent;
- Wyoming: 34.11 percent;
- Louisiana: 34.32 percent;
- Tennesee: 35.07 percent;
- Georgia: 35.45 percent;
- Idaho: 35.81 percent;
- Utah: 36.67 percent;
- West Virginia: 36.95 percent;
- Oklahoma: 38.09 percent;
- South Carolina: 38.2 percent.
According to reports, the spread of the Delta variant has led to some hospitals becoming overwhelmed in parts of rural America where vaccination rates are particularly low in some states.
One model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington is predicting that the variant could lead to a surge in overall cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the fall when the weather begins to cool down.
Resistance to the vaccine has been largely placed on the shoulders of younger Americans between the ages of 18 and 29, which has seen its age group vaccinate less than 40 percent.
Other areas that have yet to embrace the COVID-19 vaccination include more rural regions and areas largely populated by Republicans, according to research released by federal health officials.
“There is a danger — a real danger — that if there is a persistence of a recalcitrance to getting vaccinated, that you could see localized surges, which is the reason why I want to emphasize what all four of us have said,” infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said recently.
“All of that is totally and completely avoidable by getting vaccinated.”
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