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The CDC warned House lawmakers on Thursday that the new delta variant sweeping the country is as contagious as chickenpox, has a longer transmission window than the original Covid-19 strain, and can make older people sicker. , even if they were fully vaccinated, according to a copy of the document reviewed by CNBC and authenticated by the US agency.
The delta, now present in at least 132 countries and already the dominant form of the disease in the United States, is more communicable than the common cold, the Spanish flu of 1918, smallpox, Ebola, and MERS and SARS, two diseases. also caused by coronaviruses, according to the document. Only measles seems to spread faster than the variant.
“The war has changed,” CDC officials wrote.
Health officials said federal and state leaders should communicate to the public the benefits of getting vaccinated, adding that Covid vaccine injections reduced the risk of serious illness and death “ten or more” and reduced the risk of infection “three”.
Vaccines prevent more than 90% of serious illnesses, but may be less effective at preventing infection, they said, making community spread among those vaccinated more likely. At the current rate, there are 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among 162 million Americans vaccinated, according to the document.
Separately, the CDC said 5,914 fully vaccinated people had been hospitalized or died from Covid infections as of July 19, the most recent data available. Groundbreaking cases, which occur in people who are fully vaccinated, occur more frequently in assembly places and in groups at risk of primary vaccination failure, according to the document.
Health officials also said federal and state leaders should consider immunization mandates, especially for healthcare workers, universal masking and other community-based mitigation strategies. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that his administration will require federal workers to prove their immunization status or go through a series of rigorous safety protocols.
The documents, presented to lawmakers, came two days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed previous guidance and recommended fully vaccinated Americans who live in areas with high Covid infection rates to resume wearing masks. facial inside. The guidelines cover about two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to a CNBC analysis.
People infected with the delta variant carry up to 1,000 times more virus in their nasal passages than other strains, resulting in higher transmissibility, even among vaccinees, according to federal health officials. The CDC has noted studies in Canada, Singapore and Scotland that have shown higher odds of hospitalization, ICU admission, oxygen requirements, pneumonia, or death in people infected with the delta variant. .
While the delta variant continues to hit unvaccinated people the hardest, some vaccinated people could carry higher levels of the virus than previously thought and potentially pass it on to others, the director said on Tuesday. CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. She added that the variant behaves “uniquely and differently from earlier strains of the virus.”
“This pandemic continues to pose a serious threat to the health of all Americans,” Walensky told reporters on an appeal.
Representative James E. Clyburn, chairman of the select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis, said Walensky and White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci briefed the committee on the new data on Thursday.
“I am deeply concerned about the rapid rise in the rates of coronavirus infections in states across the country that are driven by the Delta variant,” Clyburn said in a statement, noting that Covid cases have increased 145% in the country. over the past two weeks and hospitalizations and deaths are increasing again, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. “This sudden turn of events threatens to undermine the important progress we have made this year in overcoming the pandemic. “
– CNBC’s Rich Mendez, Robert Towey and Nate Rattner contributed to this report.
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