The spike protein (in red) of the Delta variant and its mutations (labelled). Via NPR.
The Delta variant (since October 5th 2020), aka B.1.617.2, is the most contagious strain of covid-19 to date. It began in India in October, likely killing millions by April and May (probably the case, but not yet proved). By July 20th in the US it accounted for 83% of all new cases, which are now on the rise once again:
The UK saw a similar rise in June. Because of the Delta variant, most spectators will be barred from the Tokyo Olympics that start tomorrow (July 23rd).
The Delta variant is about three times more contagious than the original coronavirus, putting it on track to become the main variant worldwide, as it already is in the US and UK. It is unclear whether it is deadlier. Early studies show that people become infectious sooner (in four days instead of six) but are not any more likely to be hospitalized.
Symptoms: as with other variants, a persistent cough, headache, fever, and sore throat. One study showed that cough and loss of smell are less common, but headache, sore throat, runny nose, and fever are more common.
If you have been vaccinated you do not have much to worry about: there is a 93% chance the vaccine will prevent the Delta variant from hospitalizing you. Pfizer wants to make a booster shot. The CDC says there is no need yet for a booster shot so long as you are fully vaccinated.
If you are not vaccinated, then your chances of getting covid have just gone up. As Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health, puts it:
“This is a very, very dangerous moment to be unvaccinated with this variant circulating.”
Based on vaccination rates in the US, the Delta variant will hit red states, Blacks and Hispanics the hardest. In June, over 99% of those who died of covid were unvaccinated.
Herd immunity: Because the Delta variant is more contagious, that means higher rates of vaccination will be required before covid-19 becomes a thing of the past, probably more than 70%. So this whole thing is going to drag on longer than expected. Worldwide only 10% are vaccinated. In the US, 67% of adults are at least partly vaccinated.
Variants of covid-19 so far:
- Alpha (aka B1.1.7): began in September 2020 in the UK.
- Beta (aka B.1.351): began in May 2020 in South Africa.
- Gamma: (aka P.1): began in November 2020 in Brazil.
- Delta (aka B.1.617.2): began in October 2020 in India.
“Delta” is the name the World Health Organization (WHO) gave it. “B.1.617.2” is what scientists call it based on its genetic lineage.
No doubt Epsilon and other variants are yet to come.
The Delta variant has a new and improved spike. Those red spikes you see in pictures is how the coranavirus sticks to your lung cells so that it can infect them. (The spikes, by the way, are not red. That is an artistic convention. Viruses are too small to have colours.)
– Abagond, 2021.
Sources: mainly PBS, NPR, WebMD, BBC, BNC News.
See also:
- germs, the last 13,000 years
- pandemic
540
Abagond 
“No doubt Epsilon and other variants are yet to come.”
They’re already here, actually. The four listed in the blog post are the ones getting all the news, the ones which have been designated variants of concern.
Then there are the variants of interest, which are being closely watched and could eventually become variants of concern. Currently those are Eta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda.
Epsilon, Zeta, and Theta were previously listed as variants of interest but have been downgraded, although they’re still being monitored.
More info at this link, including tables of all three categories of variants being watched as potential risks:
https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/
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If I don’t want to get vaccinated and there’s a greater chance I might catch the virus and die, then so be. Let me die. At least then I’ll be free of you unhinged leftist tyrants. F*cking Nazis of our time.
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good info
apparently Lambda has made an appearance here in the East….
I have also heard of Delta plus—a combi of delta variant mixed with another variant…..?…anyone else know?
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@ Anonymous
“If I don’t want to get vaccinated and there’s a greater chance I might catch the virus and die, then so be. Let me die.”
If it was only you who would be affected, then no one would care. But while you are dying, you’ll be contributing to the strain on our hospitals, which can have negative (even fatal) effects on non-covid patients.
You will undoubtedly infect other people, some of whom might be fully vaccinated but immuno-compromised, and they could die through no fault of their own but due to your negligence to help protect those members of our society.
And while you are dying, there is a chance that your body may serve as a factory producing and spreading a new mutation of the virus which is deadlier, or more contagious, or resistant to the vaccines, which will set the whole world back in all the progress we’ve made so far.
Your refusal to get vaccinated because “muh freedoms” is similar to yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.
“At least then I’ll be free of you unhinged leftist tyrants. Fcking Nazis of our time.”*
Who is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to get vaccinated? No one. Who is forcing all unvaccinated people into designated camps to quarantine you? No one. Seriously, you’re equating public awareness messaging and some peer pressure to tyrannical dictatorships??
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” Seriously, you’re equating public awareness messaging and some peer pressure to tyrannical dictatorships??”
What’s so terrible about tyrannical dictatorships when it comes to dealing with a__holes like Anonymous?
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I bet COVID-19 anti-vaxxers will drop the “leftist tyrants”…”Nazis” rhetoric when they or their family members succumb to the virus.
Right now they think COVID-19 only affects Black, Latinx and Native Americans. So why should they care?
Imagine their surprise when they realize the virus doesn’t recognize White supremacy.
All it will take is a few funerals and six figure hospital bills to change those attitudes.
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Fully vaccinated people are STILL catching the disease. There hasn’t been any proof that the vaccines are doing anything except damaging people’s cardiovascular health. Myocarditis is the first and only thing health officials are actually telling you these shots will do.
I believe it is more problematic to tell people “just get vaccinated” when there is no confirmed guarantee of protection against the disease and its variants. For all we know, the variants are actually coming vaccinated people since the Pfizer shots tell their genes to produce synthetic spike proteins.
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“There hasn’t been any proof that the vaccines are doing anything except damaging people’s cardiovascular health. Myocarditis is the first and only thing health officials are actually telling you these shots will do.”
Pure bs. Hospitals aren’t full of sick people like before, I guess you didn’t notice.
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