MADISON, Wis. — As the Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to dominate new cases in the United States, more research is being done on the virus showing how potentially dangerous and more infectious it is.
“It’s the real deal and it’s a little bit concerning if you’re unvaccinated,” said UW Health’s Dr. Jeff Pothof. “There are studies that show it’s a bit more dangerous, maybe even twice as likely to land you in the hospital.”
The study shows that people infected with the Delta variant had 1000 times more copies of the virus in their respiratory tracts than the original virus. The study also states that the variant spreads 225 times faster.
“That would be one of the ways we could explain why it is so much more infectious than our other strains because people who are infected probably are able to emit and spread many more copies of that virus than folks with regular COVID,” Pothof said.
Wisconsin Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said the Delta variant is spreading in other states and could happen here too
“In places like southwest Missouri and Arkansas, we are seeing COVID surges that are once again overfilling hospital beds and ICUs beyond capacity,” Van Dijk said.
Medical experts continue to state that it’s the people who are unvaccinated that are giving the virus opportunities to mutate.
Van Dijk said, “The Delta variant is not only more transmissible but it is also affecting people who have previously had COVID.”
Pothof said when it comes down to two choices: getting the vaccine or getting sick with COVID, “It’s orders of magnitude more dangerous to get the disease than it is to get the vaccine.”
Van Dijk encouraged everyone who has not yet been vaccinated to do so.
“Every COVID-19 death is a now a preventable death,” she said.
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