Rise of the Delta Variant: A friend of mine who works at our local hospital says that they currently have more people in there for COVID than they had at any previous point in the pandemic. While it's true that our area has benefitted from its isolation, this current surge is hitting us harder than expected. They have already expanded through their "surge" center to deal with this sudden rise of patients.
This was a preventable situation. Nearly all (99%) of the cases are from unvaccinated people. Considering that Alaska had the ability to vaccinate its entire population sooner than most other states, this is particularly frustrating. The misinformation spread about the vaccine and the hesitancy of otherwise intelligent people to take it falls squarely at the feet of far-right conspiracy theorists and the foreign agents who deliberately fed them the lies.
This new "delta" variant is proving to be more contagious with harsher symptoms than the variants that started this pandemic. The good news is that the vaccines distributed in the U.S. seem to be effective against it. Even the rare breakthrough infections (a fully vaccinated person who contracts COVID) have been quite mild with few hospitalizations. Medical professionals are still studying to see if people who previously contracted COVID are protected from the Delta variant (there have been conflicting results from early studies), but health officials are recommending that those people also get at least one dose of one of the vaccines.
I don't know what this might mean in the near future. While currently our area is operating as though there is no pandemic, we might be approaching a crisis point soon. Several Alaskan communities are headed into full lockdown as their medical facilities have become overburdened by this new wave.
Unfortunately, some people are still stubbornly clinging to the lies they have been fed, continuing an epidemic that we could have had under control by now.
This was a preventable situation. Nearly all (99%) of the cases are from unvaccinated people. Considering that Alaska had the ability to vaccinate its entire population sooner than most other states, this is particularly frustrating. The misinformation spread about the vaccine and the hesitancy of otherwise intelligent people to take it falls squarely at the feet of far-right conspiracy theorists and the foreign agents who deliberately fed them the lies.
This new "delta" variant is proving to be more contagious with harsher symptoms than the variants that started this pandemic. The good news is that the vaccines distributed in the U.S. seem to be effective against it. Even the rare breakthrough infections (a fully vaccinated person who contracts COVID) have been quite mild with few hospitalizations. Medical professionals are still studying to see if people who previously contracted COVID are protected from the Delta variant (there have been conflicting results from early studies), but health officials are recommending that those people also get at least one dose of one of the vaccines.
I don't know what this might mean in the near future. While currently our area is operating as though there is no pandemic, we might be approaching a crisis point soon. Several Alaskan communities are headed into full lockdown as their medical facilities have become overburdened by this new wave.
Unfortunately, some people are still stubbornly clinging to the lies they have been fed, continuing an epidemic that we could have had under control by now.
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