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The highly contagious Delta-COVID-19 variant has changed a lot in a short time. It is driving up case numbers and hospital admissions in central Texas, across the state, and nationwide in places with low vaccination rates.
Ashley Lopez, who is responsible for health and healthcare at KUT, answered questions about the variant and what it means to Austinites. Listen to the questions and answers above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been slightly edited for the sake of clarity.
What has happened in the past few weeks?
Well, unfortunately everyone feared what had happened: Delta took over. It is spreading rapidly in Texas and other parts of the country. The hospitals fill up with very sick people and people die. There are many reasons for that.
One of them is that this variant of SARS-CoV-2 is very, very contagious. Some news outlets recently received slide presentations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the matter, and they have data suggesting that this virus is more contagious than chickenpox, one of the most contagious viruses we know. And it’s definitely more contagious than the common cold, 1918 flu, and smallpox.
I recently discussed this with Dr. Parker Hudson, an assistant professor of internal medicine and an infectious disease expert at Dell Medical School at UT Austin.
Hudson said, “One of the reasons it’s so contagious is because people with the Delta variant have about a thousand times more viruses, which means they bring more viruses into the air and the environment around them.”
Not only are the CDC internal data more contagious, but they also show that the Delta variant is likely to increase the risk of serious illness and hospitalization compared to the original strain.
When it comes to Delta, the good news is that the best response is still the vaccines we have. The vaccines, particularly the two-dose MRNA vaccines – Pfizer and Moderna – as we have more data, go a long way in protecting people from serious diseases, which means people who are vaccinated do it with a lot more likely not to be hospitalized or to die.
Dr. Hudson, who treats COVID patients, says if you haven’t been vaccinated this is a good time to think about it.
“Any person I now look after in the hospital who has COVID is just devastating because it’s preventable,” said Hudson. “It’s completely preventable – serious illness and death. Please reconsider a vaccination if you have not done so. “
The CDC urges all people, including those who have been vaccinated, to mask themselves in indoor public spaces and in situations such as large crowds. Why is that important? So many of us assumed that masks would no longer be necessary after the vaccination.
I understand the frustration among the vaccinated when it comes to this. But there are actually two main reasons why you should wear masks in situations like this – even if you are vaccinated. First, you are less likely to pass the virus on to an unvaccinated person. Studies show that if you come into contact with the Delta variant, you simply have more viruses in your system, even if you are vaccinated.
When it comes to unvaccinated people, it’s not just adults who choose not to get vaccinated. We are talking about children under the age of 12 who cannot be vaccinated in the USA. And there are growing numbers of children getting the disease in states that have had the variant for a long time. There are also people with weakened immune systems who either cannot get the vaccine or have received the vaccine and the vaccines are simply less effective in their systems.
“The second benefit of masking for vaccinated people is to control the inoculum of the Delta virus that you breathe yourself,” said Dr. Hudson. So a mask reduces how much virus you bring into the environment, but also how much virus you breathe in.
What do we know about what the delta variant means for unvaccinated people?
I’m going to say something every health official is saying right now that everyone should be shouting from the rooftops: If you are unvaccinated and don’t stay home and wear a mask in public, experts say it’s almost inevitable that COVID-19 will find you and you likely to get sick and very sick at times.
Dr. Hudson told me that he believes the Delta variant will be almost impossible to avoid within the next month or two if you are not vaccinated.
After vaccination, people began to incorporate things into their lives such as eating indoors, traveling, and even just going to someone else. How are people supposed to feel about this behavior now, given that the delta variant is spreading and spreading so quickly?
So that’s a not fun part of all of this. I would like to say that it is up to everyone to assess their own level of risk; These are personal choices. But I’m just going to tell you what experts told me. First, indoor restaurants and bars are very risky right now and continue to get riskier as the Delta variant spreads, especially in Texas. If you can, opt for outdoor seating when you go out to eat, and when you go to someone’s home, being outside is the better option.
Dr. Hudson told me that, in general, it is a good idea to think about the air quality in your area, even when planning a trip.
“When you’re in a carpool,” said Hudson, “when you’re in a cab, bus, Lyft, or Uber, obviously wearing a mask because you’re in a closed room with someone else, but also the window crack even if you are feeling fine or hopefully your driver is asymptomatic. It is important to increase the fresh air in this environment. “
He said you should also invest in better masks whenever possible, especially if you’re traveling on an airplane – a KN95, for example. These are better protected with this variant because this variant is just so much more contagious.
And of course, if you come in contact with someone you know tested positive, keep getting tested for COVID. If you feel sick, stay home. This is very important. And if you test positive and feel good, isolate yourself anyway until you are no longer contagious.
Children under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated yet. We are approaching the start of school. What should parents think about if the delta variant continues to spread throughout the area?
Of course, masks are going to be very, very important to this population. This is especially true when they go to school, when they go back to class in person. Outdoor activities will be your safest option if you want your kids to socialize, exercise and go out and do something. Choose the outdoor activities versus the indoor activities.
Dr. Hudson says this is the scariest part for him, too – just all this insecurity for kids, especially when they return to face-to-face classes. He said he had young children and decided to speak to them about the importance of wearing a mask in school.
“They understand the reasons why and how we care for our friends and other people because we are considerate and we care and respect the people around us,” he said. “We check her symptoms every day. I’ll keep the Abbott BinaxNOW test at home so I can test for symptoms. “
He says these conversations and priorities will obviously be different for each family, but it will definitely be important to be vigilant about unvaccinated children because there is still a lot we don’t know.
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