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The infectious delta variant of COVID-19 is starting to cause an increase in cases of the virus in Hudson County, and adults under the age of 50 appear to contract it the most, data shows.
While COVID-19 cases are likely to increase regionally in the coming weeks, those most at risk for severe symptoms remain unvaccinated residents of Hudson County, said Dr John Rimmer, chief medical officer at Hoboken. University Medical Center.
“The younger population that acquires it is still mostly unvaccinated people,” Rimmer said. “We are seeing breakthrough cases among vaccinated patients, but all of the patients I have seen have had very mild symptoms.”
For three of the seven days between Aug. 2 and Aug. 8, more than 100 new cases have been reported in Hudson County, something that has not been seen here since May. This still falls well short of the days in winter when cases frequently exceeded 500.
The delta variant’s ability to spread has led Rimmer to believe that anyone who is unvaccinated will inevitably catch it.
“People have two choices,” he said. “They are probably going to acquire the virus or they will be vaccinated. There are only two choices left.
Jersey City Medical Center has too few COVID-19 patients to determine an age trend, said Dr Schubert Perotte, president and medical director of the emergency department at Jersey City Medical Center.
“It’s a slight increase,” Perrotte said. “It’s not near pandemic level to see patients and the whole hospital is only full of COVID-19 patients … but it has gone from a level where it was almost almost to the number of patients. that were arriving. “
But people hospitalized at Hoboken University Medical Center now tend to be between the ages of 25 and 50, a younger patient population than before, which is likely the result of Hudson County’s 70% vaccination rate. in adults aged 65 and over, Rimmer said. The six people currently hospitalized there are not vaccinated, the doctor said.
Across Jersey City, 45% of infections in July were among people aged 24 to 36, according to data provided by the city. So far in August, this age group accounted for 38% of infections.
Nationally, the delta variant has sparked a wave of new cases, surpassing 100,000 daily cases on Saturday for the first time since winter, according to the Associated Press. Hot spots remain in the South where vaccinations are lagging behind.
The variant, discovered for the first time in India, has proven to be a ruthless spreader, almost twice as contagious as the variants that came before it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I think there is definitely room for delta to grow here, and that is why it is increasingly important now for those who are not vaccinated to consider getting vaccinated,” said Rimmer. “If we were to be two to three weeks behind Florida, we could certainly see a much more worrying situation at the dawn of September.”
Perotte said he did not expect a COVID-19 outbreak in New Jersey to reach the peak of any previous outbreak here thanks to the current vaccination rate, but it is difficult to predict how bad it still could become. serious.
“Our best asset, ally and weapon against this disease is really vaccination,” he said.
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