“We’ve been warned three times by the U.K.,” Topol says, referring to previous surges in early 2020 and last winter. ![]() Less than half of the nation’s population is fully vaccinated-and that number is much lower in some states, particularly in the South and Mountain West. “It is the most hypertransmissible, contagious version of the virus we’ve seen to date, for sure-it’s a superspreader strain if there ever was one,” says Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine and an executive vice president at the Scripps Research Institution. As of June 30, estimates suggest Delta is now the country’s dominant variant, according to William Lee, vice president of science at the genomics company Helix, who co-authored the study.* A preprint study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that Delta and another variant called Gamma, first identified in Brazil, are rapidly replacing Alpha, which had previously been the most common U.S. And it is rapidly becoming more prevalent in the U.S. and has led to another surge in cases there, despite the population’s high vaccination rate. Delta has quickly become the dominant variant in the U.K. ![]() Studies to date suggest the Delta variant is between 40 and 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first identified in the U.K.-which was already 50 percent more transmissible than the original viral strain first detected in Wuhan, China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified it as a “ variant of concern.” If vaccination rates fail to keep pace with its spread, experts say, the variant could lead to new COVID surges in parts of the country where a substantial proportion of the population remains unvaccinated. ![]() First identified in India, this more transmissible form of the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 77 countries and regions and now makes up more than 20 percent of all U.S.
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