Vaccine ‘stubbornness’ fuels spread of Delta variant in US

The Delta variant crept into the consciousness of Americans through a distant haze of funeral pyres. But now that the strain of coronavirus first detected in India has burst into communities across the United States, it has taken on a uniquely American look and feel.

In Giddings, Texas, 147 infections roared among attendees at a church ministry camp.

In Clark County, Nevada, a wave of nearly 7,000 cases ruled out three barbers at a Fade ‘Em All store in Las Vegas over the weekend of July 4, even as a sister store hosted a COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

In Grand Junction, Colorado, it’s the unseen force behind outbreaks at a country music festival, church services, and carnival in the parking lot of a mall. The Delta variant claimed the life of a 15-year-old girl in May and reached full capacity at both county hospitals.

Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that Delta accounts for 58% of all new cases in the United States. In some places, particularly in the Midwestern and High Mountain states, it has almost completely overtaken other strains of the coronavirus in just two months.

That’s quite a feat for a virus that arrived here around mid-March. Armed with certain key mutations in the spike protein it uses to attach to cells, the Delta variant was found to be 50% more transmissible than the Alpha variant first detected in the UK – a strain that is already transmitted from person to person 56%. more easily than the original virus that triggered the pandemic.

Early research suggested this could increase hospitalizations, although the CDC could not find any evidence to support this hypothesis. Yet Dr Mike Ryan, who heads the World Health Organization’s health emergency program, called it “faster” and “fitter” than any other strain that came before it, and it is now fueling epidemics and deaths in at least 111 countries.

The Delta variant has risen with terrifying speed and force in Greene County, Missouri, since it was first detected there in May.

Prior to Delta, COVID-19-related hospitalizations stood at 34. As of June 21, 155 patients were in county hospitals – a number not seen since the nationwide outbreak of COVID-19 cases in January. By July 8, the census had risen to 192, including 70 in the intensive care unit.

Greene County reported 19 deaths from COVID-19 in June, virtually all of them caused by the Delta variant. Deaths are expected to double or triple in July.

“We’re just inundated with COVID cases,” said Kendra Findley, the county’s community health and epidemiology administrator. All are caused by the Delta variant, she added.

The places invaded by Delta share something uniquely American: Despite an oversupply of vaccines and strong evidence that they are protecting against the new variant, a large number of residents have refused to vaccinate themselves or their teenage children.

Indeed, 93% of US counties with the highest rates of new infections have vaccination rates below 40%, according to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Many of those counties are Delta Variant strongholds, she added.

Low vaccination rates, a high rate of community transmission and the reopening of public spaces with few protective measures “will certainly and unfortunately lead to more unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations and potentially death,” Walensky warned.

Some counties are woefully behind the national mark of 48.3% fully immunized, and some are just a little behind. But all have stalled efforts to vaccinate many more residents – and in some cases, to get those who received a first dose to return for a second.

In Greene County, for example, only 45% are at least partially vaccinated and only 40% are fully vaccinated. In Mesa County, Colorado, where Grand Junction is located, 46% are partially vaccinated and 42% are fully protected. In Las Vegas and the rest of Clark County, 51% are partially vaccinated and 41% are fully vaccinated.

And in Galveston County, Texas, home to Giddings, about 45% of residents are fully vaccinated, a number that has barely budged in recent months, according to the health director.

“I would say there is reluctance and I would use another word – stubbornness,” said Dr Philip Keizer, an infectious disease expert from the University of Texas who is the local health authority. County Galveston since 2016. “There’s that attitude, ‘You can’ don’t get me! ‘”

Facts don’t always help, Keizer added. Skeptical residents of Galveston County clashed when his county’s data dashboard began reporting the immunization status of those who have been hospitalized or died from COVID-19. (With rare exceptions, virtually all are not vaccinated.)

“” You are just trying to scare us! ” they said. I said, ‘No, I’m just reporting the facts,’ ”Keizer said.

It’s a sentiment shared by public health professionals in many corners of America – rural and urban, ethnically diverse and predominantly white – where demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has plummeted after a months-long run by volunteers. and eager.

By the end of May, Greene County had given at least one shot of the vaccine to around 35% of its population – just enough to quash mask warrants and social distancing rules, Findley said. But the vaccination rate simply plateaued at that point as doubts about the vaccine began to harden.

“There’s also that feeling of ‘It’s a personal choice, you can’t tell me what to do.’ It’s a mantra you hear all the time, ”Findley said. “It’s hard to convince people that the vaccine is a choice you make not only for yourself and your family, but for your community. “

Even in cities with high overall immunization rates like Los Angeles (with 52% of the population fully vaccinated) and New York (with 64%), pockets of vaccine reluctance have opened the door to outbreaks fueled by Delta. That risk will multiply when schools resume in-person teaching in the coming weeks, said Wan Yang, a Columbia University epidemiologist who has studied the impact of Delta for the New York Department of Health.

Some of the communities where the Delta variant sows large epidemics have been largely spared in previous outbreaks. This has made it easier for residents to dismiss the pandemic as a distant threat. It also resulted in populations with very little natural immunity, leaving them particularly vulnerable to the onslaught of Delta.

With the exception of a few scattered outbreaks, the coronavirus had mainly bypassed Mesa County until fall 2020 when it experienced its first wave of cases, said Jeff Kuhr, executive director of the public health unit. from this country. As COVID-19 vaccines arrived and people got their hands on them, Kuhr and his colleagues felt optimistic about the possibility of getting enough residents vaccinated to declare victory before too much damage was done.

But people are wary of the vaccine – and the threat posed by the Delta variant hasn’t changed their minds.

“It’s a net at this point,” Kuhr said. “There is just no sense of urgency.”

With local hospitals full and no sign of releasing Delta, he fears Mesa County’s luck has run out.

“We have always been ahead. But unfortunately we are there, ”he said.

In Las Vegas, past waves of COVID-19 were not enough for Darrius Bouyer to overcome his suspicions about the safety of vaccines and the intentions of their manufacturers. Then the 33-year-old hairdresser tested positive for coronavirus in June.

He’s just emerging from exhaustion, muscle aches and dizziness – and he’s starting to see vaccines in a whole new light.

“After being posted like this, I’m definitely doing more research,” he said. “I would never wish that on anyone.” And I wouldn’t want to give that to anyone.

Two of Bouyer’s fellow barbers tested positive for coronavirus infections around the same time. None of them had been vaccinated.

“These barbers haven’t caught it all year since we reopened,” said Robert “Twixx” Taylor, owner of three Fade ‘Em All locations. “And then, with the arrival of the Delta, the masks came off. It is not a coincidence.

While the three were recovering, Taylor received his first dose at a mini-vaccine clinic that he hosted in one of his living rooms. He was one of 12 people to roll up a sleeve.

“As a leader of the black community, I had to get it,” Taylor said. He is also determined to protect his 71-year-old mother, who was also vaccinated.

In County Galveston, many vaccine converts are expected to move forward – and quickly – to keep the Delta variant at bay. Keizer remains hopeful, but he’s not sure he can persuade enough people in time.

“This virus has had a way of humiliating us,” he said. “Right now I’m just sitting on the edge of my seat to see what happens next.”