CDC MMWR for July shows Delta spreading rapidly even for fully vaccinated

CDC MMWR reports that the Delta variant is highly contagious, comparable to chickenpox EVEN FOR FULLY VACCINATED!

The good news is that while even the fully vaccinated can still easily catch COVID Delta you will see only a mild case in most vaccinated people.

Unvaccinated who catch COVID Delta are in deep trouble, it is not only easier to catch, it is more dangerous.

That is the reason for the change in mask mandates. The infected but vaccinated people may not even have symptoms but will carry a very heavy viral load in the sinus area and therefore can easily spread.

Delta is also much more dangerous for the elderly.

We are in for a very bad fall and winter.

Time to begin stockpiling what you need to stay isolated again.

“During July 2021, 469 cases of COVID-19 associated with multiple summer events and large public gatherings in a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, were identified among Massachusetts residents; vaccination coverage among eligible Massachusetts residents was 69%. Approximately three quarters (346; 74%) of cases occurred in fully vaccinated persons (those who had completed a 2-dose course of mRNA vaccine [Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna] or had received a single dose of Janssen [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine ≥14 days before exposure).” Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021 | MMWR (cdc.gov)

COVID - People Can Self-Infect - Mask Wearing Helps Prevent This

 Did you realize you can infect yourself with SARS-COVID-19?

Here is how it happens. You can breathe in a bit of the virus and it lodges in your nasal passages where it multiplies relatively harmlessly, probably not causing even discomfort.

Where any SARS infection becomes dangerous is when it enters the lungs - people don't die of COVID virus directly, they either die of an over active immune system triggering what is known as a cytokine storm (reported in other blog posts here) OR through pneumonia triggered by COVID/SARS.

So you can self-infect by breathing in some of the exhaled droplets from your nose deep into your lungs, causing a dangerous SARS infection leading to pneumonia.

This was known to occur during sleep but recent research shows it also happens when you merely breathe or talk while awake, especially if you sneeze.

Wearing a good mask can absorb the tiny water droplets carrying the virus, preventing self-infection.

Masks Do More Than Protect Others During COVID-19: Reducing the Inoculum of SARS-CoV-2 to Protect the Wearer (nih.gov)

Wildfire Smoke Extremely Toxic As Far As New England

 With hundreds of small and several gigantic wildfires on the West Coast you might think that even if the smoke reaches 3,000 miles it will be a minor annoyance but not so.

People in New York state are experiencing asthma attacks while scientists say the smoke from wildfires is not only toxic close up but the tiniest particles, which are so small ( PNAS BELOW "wildfires have accounted for up to 25% of PM2.5") they can pass directly from the lungs to the bloodstream, are actually more dense the further away you get because the heavier dust particles fall out of the cloud.

Yet another reason to fear climate change, even places as relatively safe such as where I live in Central PA, are being impacted by the western drought not only because of farm prices going up due to lack of water for irrigation, but now it is learned we are getting pollution from 2,500 miles away where one fire alone has covered 400,000 acres and is still mostly out of control.

The National Academy of Sciences recently published a report on the dangers.

"Recent dramatic and deadly increases in global wildfire activity have increased attention on the causes of wildfires, their consequences, and how risk from wildfire might be mitigated. Here we bring together data on the changing risk and societal burden of wildfire in the United States. We estimate that nearly 50 million homes are currently in the wildland–urban interface in the United States, a number increasing by 1 million houses every 3 y. To illustrate how changes in wildfire activity might affect air pollution and related health outcomes, and how these linkages might guide future science and policy, we develop a statistical model that relates satellite-based fire and smoke data to information from pollution monitoring stations. Using the model, we estimate that wildfires have accounted for up to 25% of PM2.5 (particulate matter with diameter <2.5 μm) in recent years across the United States, and up to half in some Western regions, with spatial patterns in ambient smoke exposure that do not follow traditional socioeconomic pollution exposure gradients. We combine the model with stylized scenarios to show that fuel management interventions could have large health benefits and that future health impacts from climate-change–induced wildfire smoke could approach projected overall increases in temperature-related mortality from climate change—but that both estimates remain uncertain. We use model results to highlight important areas for future research and to draw lessons for policy."

The changing risk and burden of wildfire in the United States | PNAS

J&J Vaccine May Only be 33% Effective Against COVID Delta

The first large scale evaluation of a European vaccine extremely similar to the J&J vaccine is only 33% effective against the Delta Variant of COVID. If confirmed then those who took the single shot vaccine need to now get one of the mRNA vaccines. Link to preprint below. NOT peer reviewed yet.

Comparison of Neutralizing Antibody Titers Elicited by mRNA and Adenoviral Vector Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 Variants  https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.19.452771v1

About 80% of the new COVID cases in FL are Delta. Hospitals are already full and a lot of staff had resigned after initial experience with the first and second waves.

Since 95% of hospital cases and deaths are unvaccinated there is no indication that people are anxious to return to hospital jobs. The feeling is that they have committed suicide by refusing the vaccines.

COVID Delta twice as deadly twice as easy to spread Republican states face Fall disaster

Delta is much more deadly than the original COVID-19 strain and spreads very, VERY easily. Those unmasked young people on vacation in states with low vaccination rates are going to spread this latest infection rapidly and are likely to the hardest hit as younger people are reportedly a high percentage of hospitalized patients in the UK.

Think you are safe because you actually had COVID? Think again, in India where it originated people who had recovered from the original COVID caught Delta and many died. Completed vaccinations DO protect from Delta, but partial vaccination doesn't according to UK reports.

COVID is back, will put many younger people in hospitals or dirt naps especially in southern and mountain states with low vaccination rates.

But researchers are still learning why it spreads so much more easily and hits harder.

"One important mutation, called P681R, changes an amino acid at a spot directly beside the furin cleavage site, where a human enzyme cuts the protein, a key step enabling the virus to invade human cells. In the Alpha variant, a mutation at that site made cleavage more efficient; a preprint published in late May showed Delta’s different change makes furin cleavage even easier. The researchers suggest this could make the virus more transmissible." https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/06/delta-variant-triggers-dangerous-new-phase-pandemic

And the really bad news from the same source, "Data from England and Scotland indicate that both the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines offer slightly less protection against symptomatic infections from the new variant than from Alpha. People who have received just one shot of vaccine—as many U.K. residents have—are especially vulnerable."

With the reddest states also the less vaccinated and less careful about mask wearing the race will be on this Fall and Winter to see if jerrymandering can keep ahead of Republican death rates.