Delta variant hits red states hardest as U.S. vaccine division expands

• The Delta variant disgusts people in the unvaccinated, heavily Republican “red” states the most.
• Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Wyoming have seen an increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations.
• But the variant had little effect in blue states like Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Daily coronavirus cases in the United States have climbed 60% in the past two weeks as the Delta variant tightens its grip on the country. Delta now accounts for more than half of cases in the United States, making it the dominant strain nationally.

But the variant does not hit all states the same. Delta cases have increased primarily in states with low immunization rates, which are mostly heavily Republican – “red” states like Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Wyoming. Overall, these states saw a higher increase in daily cases and hospitalizations than the “blue” states that voted Democratic in the 2020 election.

In Missouri, for example, daily cases have increased by about 75% over the past two weeks, from about 800 to 1,400 cases per day. Hospitalizations also increased by 34% during this period, from about 830 to 1,100 per day. Delta has accounted for nearly 70% of all coronavirus cases there in the past two months, according to data compiled by Scripps Research’s Outbreak.info tracker. So far, less than half of Missouri residents (about 46%) have received at least one dose of the vaccine, well below the US average of 56%.

But Vermont, where nearly 75% of residents have received at least one dose, has only reported five daily cases and five daily hospitalizations in the past two weeks. Delta accounted for less than 1% of coronavirus cases there over the past two months.

Other blue states, such as Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, have also reported some of the lowest case numbers and highest vaccination rates in the country. In each of those states, Delta has accounted for less than 10% of all cases in the past two months, according to Outbreak.info.

“We need to get away from the division,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC on Sunday – a reference to how the US vaccine division fits into a logic Politics.

Viruses, Fauci added, “don’t differentiate between a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent.”

Republicans less likely than Democrats to trust vaccines

Ed Jones / AFP / Getty Images

Data collected by the New York Times shows that only 34% of people are fully vaccinated in an average U.S. county that voted for Donald Trump, while 45% of people are fully vaccinated in an average county that voted for Joe Biden.

There are several reasons why vaccination rates stagnate in red states. On the one hand, Republicans are more likely to believe vaccines aren’t safe or that injections aren’t necessary to protect their health, according to a June survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Additionally, Republican states also tend to be more rural, so access to vaccines can still prevent some people in those areas from getting vaccinated.

In Arkansas, for example, about 42% of counties are rural. Research from Boston Children’s Hospital suggests several counties in Arkansas are considered “vaccine deserts,” with the nearest COVID-19 vaccination site more than a 15-minute drive away. Only 43% of Arkansas residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

But state health director Dr José Romero attributes the low vaccination rate to widespread reluctance to vaccinate – not lack of access. The Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that rural residents are also much more reluctant to vaccinate than urban or suburban residents.

“We did everything we could,” Romero told Insider. “We’ve made the vaccine available. We’ve gone the extra mile to make it pretty much on demand if you want it.”

Andrew Demillo / AP Photo

Delta has accounted for nearly 40% of Arkansas cases in the past two months – among the highest shares in the country. Romero said he tried to remind residents that the variant posed “a much greater threat” than the original strain of coronavirus.

An analysis from Public Health England found that Delta was associated with a 60% increased risk of home transmission compared to the Alpha variant found in the UK, although more recent estimates suggest the difference is closer to 40% . The Alpha variant is already about 50% more transmissible than the original strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scottish researchers also found that infection with the Delta variant doubled the risk of hospitalization compared to Alpha. (Previous studies have suggested that the Alpha variant may be 30-70% more deadly than the original strain.)

Vaccines, of course, greatly reduce this risk, but it is important to take the full course. New research suggests that partially vaccinated people are more vulnerable to symptomatic Delta infections than they might be to other strains. A study published last week in the journal Nature found that a single dose of Pfizer’s vaccine was weakly or not at all effective against the variant.

“It’s very clear that this is an obnoxious variation,” Fauci told ABC. “He has a much greater capacity for person-to-person transmission.”