Health officials, President Biden warn of COVID-19 Delta variant

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – There is now an urgent warning about the COVID-19 Delta variant. 

President Joe Biden is sounding the alarm about the strain and recently tweeted the following warning.

“The Delta variant – a highly infectious COVID-19 strain – is spreading rapidly among young people between 12 and 20 years old in the U.K.” said Biden’s tweet.

The Delta variant was first pinpointed in India, is now spreading in the United States.

Health officials are scrambling to get Americans vaccinated in hopes of cutting down the number of cases.

As of Wednesday morning, the CDC COVID-19 variant map showed that the Delta strain accounts for 2% of cases in the region of six Midwest states, which includes Indiana. However, it doesn’t make it clear if the Delta variant has actually been found in Indiana.

Health officials said the new strain accounts for more than 6% of all infections in the United States.

Doctor Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the Delta variant is associated with more severe disease and a higher risk of ending up in the hospital.

According to Fauci, the variant could spell trouble for the United States, if people don’t get vaccinated.

While there is not a booster shot vaccine trial underway for the delta variant, yet, Fauci said that they are focused on two approaches to vaccine boosting now.

“One is boosting against the original wild type for which the person was vaccinated and they other is a variant specific boost. We are approaching both of those, but the one thing that we are noticing that’s important is that the higher your degree of immune response against the wild type, the greater the secondary coverage you have against a wide array of variants,” said Fauci.

Health officials stress that the vaccine is the best way to protect people and stop this variant from spreading.