The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant could soon become the dominant strain in the United States.
“When these viruses mutate, they do so with some advantage to the virus. In this case, it is more transmissible,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” describing the Delta variant as more transmissible than the variant first discovered in the United Kingdom, which is currently the most dominant strain in the U.S.
“We saw that quickly become the dominant strain in a period of one or two months, and I anticipate that is going to be what happens with the delta strain here,” Dr. Walensky said, adding: “I think that that’s probably going to be the case.”
The variant, which was first detected in India, is believed to be 40% to 80% more transmissible than the Alpha strain that was first identified in the U.K. and eventually became the dominant strain both there and in the U.S. Delta is now the new dominant strain in Britain. In America, it accounts for about 10% of COVID-19 cases, but that’s up from 2.7% just three weeks ago.
On Tuesday, the CDC designated the Delta strain a “variant of concern,” meaning “there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe disease (e.g., increased hospitalizations or deaths), significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.”
“When these viruses mutate, they do so with some advantage to the virus. In this case, it is more transmissible,” Walensky told ABC News. “It’s more transmissible than the alpha variant, or the U.K. variant, that we have here. We saw that quickly become the dominant strain in a period of one or two months, and I anticipate that is going to be what happens with the Delta strain here.”
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the Delta variant “is going to take over” in the U.S. and “I think the risk is really to the fall that this could spike a new epidemic.”
Federal health officials say vaccines are the ticket to avoiding the sort of headaches the U.K. is currently experiencing. A new study Monday by Public Health England found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective at preventing hospitalization from the Delta variant.
The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines haven’t been studied in the same way, but Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, chair of the White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, said the evidence points to their effectiveness against variants as well.
“What I say to people is we have the opportunity to really choose our own adventure here,” Nunez-Smith told Spectrum News on Monday. “And the more people get vaccinated and the quicker we do it, that is our guarantee against any harmful consequence from the Delta variant or, quite frankly, any future variants.”
Walensky told ABC News that the CDC is concerned that the Delta variant could mutate to the point where it evades COVID vaccines.
“That’s really what we’re actively trying to prevent, which is why we’re really encouraging people to get vaccinated,” Dr. Walensky said.
“I will say, as worrisome as this Delta strain is with regard to its hyper-transmissibility, our vaccines work,” she added. “Right now, they are working and they require actually two doses or to be fully vaccinated to work. So I would encourage all Americans to get your first shot and when you’re for your second, get your second shot and you’ll be protected against this Delta variant.”
Health officials are watching the Delta strain and other variants with one eye and the lagging vaccination rates in some states with the other. Just 11 states have fully vaccinated more than half their population, while 19 states have fully vaccinated less than 40%.
“We are worried,” Nunez-Smith said. “We want this to be an even recovery. And so what we see right now is the potential for unevenness, where we have communities where vaccination rates are low, they’re going to be more at risk — those individuals, those communities — of outbreaks.”
Gottlieb agreed.
“I think in parts of the country where you have less vaccination, particularly in parts of the South, where you have some cities where vaccination rates are low, there’s a risk that you could see outbreaks with this new variant,” he said.
Spectrum News’ Ryan Chatelain and Austin Landis contributed to this report.
