How to help slow the spread of the Delta variant
The Delta variant now makes up more than 93% of all new COVID-19 cases as it continues to spread across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Daniel Rhoads, a microbiologist for Cleveland Clinic, talked about actions to take to help stop the highly contagious variant.
“It’s a respiratory virus like the flu, or the common cold, or the original variant of SARS-COV-2, so it spreads through our respiratory secretions, person-to-person, so the same measures we’ve taken before to prevent respiratory illness will work here,” Rhoads said in a video (see above).
He said it’s hard to predict where the Delta variant will go from here, and that means everybody needs to do what they can to slow the spread.
He strongly recommended getting vaccinated if you haven’t already. That means you and those around you will be protected. Also, for those who did contract COVID, the symptoms if you’re vaccinated are likely to be much more mild – if there are any at all.
The vaccine can also aid in preventing future mutations from developing. Rhoads said there are still more new variants emerging in other countries.
“Lambda is in South America, people are concerned about that one. There’s a whole list of emerging variants that are of interest, or concern, or on the watch list. If you go to WHO’s website, they have a whole list of them. So there’s lots of variants around, but over time, biology proves the winner and we see which one emerges as the predominant variant,” said Rhoads.
The CDC reported the Delta variant is more prevalent in areas where vaccination rates are low. He suggested anybody who is planning to travel should research their destination ahead of time.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 11:28 AM.
