Delta Variant Danger

By Giselle Weiss ‘24
Just as the world hoped to see the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, a new wave of Coronavirus, called the Omicron variant, took the world by storm. While much remains unknown about this variant at press time, it reminds many of our recent troubles with the Delta variant, a mutation that proved even more dangerous and contagious than the original strain.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an agency responsible for providing humanitarian developmental aid to children all across the world, reports that, “the Delta variant is...about twice as contagious as previous variants.” 
Towards the end of 2020, scientists in India discovered the Delta Variant which is more infectious than any previous strains, even in vaccinated individuals. It is also the most common variant of the Coronavirus and has more effect over the lungs and immune system than any other strain of COVID-19. 
With information coming from two different studies, the CDC states:
“Patients infected with the Delta variant are more likely to be hospitalized than patients infected with Alpha or the original virus that causes COVID-19.” 
Sophomore Adina Newman said, “The fact that COVID-19 is getting worse only goes to show the importance of taking the necessary precautions to stay safe.”
    Just a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic arose, a vaccine was formulated to help contain the spread of the deadly virus. However, with this new variant, the vaccine is not as effective, and therefore the strain is still easily transmissible. Medical News Today reporter Annie Lennon reports: 
“The Delta variant also continues to cause a large number of cases in countries with both low and high vaccine coverage.” 
Being fully vaccinated doesn't prevent transmission of the Delta variant and it can still be spread to others. Despite this, those who are unvaccinated are at the highest risk of transmitting the virus as well as getting infected because they have no immunity whatsoever.
Although the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t give as much protection from Delta variant cases compared to an Alpha variant case, it still significantly helps with symptoms such as fevers, coughs and nausea and, in many cases, prevents hospitalization. Linda Geddes from Gavi.org reports:
“Two weeks after receiving a second dose, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appeared to provide 79% protection against infection with the Delta variant, compared with 92% protection against the Alpha variant, the study found.” 
The COVID-19 vaccine is extremely helpful in protecting against the Delta virus and its symptoms, which range from mild to catastrophic. As the medical and scientific communities learn more about the Omicron variant, they will be looking at vaccine effectiveness against that strain and future strains as well.  For example, with the arrival of the Delta Variant comes the Delta Plus, an additional mutation. 
Yale medicine found that this mutation, called K417N, affects the spike protein that the virus needs to infect cells, and that is the main target for the mRNA and other vaccines.
Although this new variant has increased transmissibility, the same practices that have been taken to protect against COVID-19 can be applied when dealing with the Delta variant.
UNICEF states:
“The same precautions, such as avoiding crowded spaces, keeping your distance from others, and mask-wearing, still work against the Delta variant.”
    Social distancing and wearing masks when necessary is vital to keeping the community safe. The Delta Variant is extremely dangerous.
    Freshman Solomon Langer said, “It's frightening because we’re trying to get back to living our lives normally, I hope this new Omicron strain gets contained before it mutates.  I’m so tired of COVID!”