Thread by @MonicaGandhi9

The Reassuring Data on the Delta Variant. By I and @LeslieBienen and @citizen_oregon . There are 3 things concerning about a variant - transmissibility, whether increased virulence & whether evades vaccines. Virus likely more "fit" which we explain
wsj.com/articles/delta…

but to public, the delta will become the dominant variant if more fit. So, 2nd question is whether the delta is more virulent. Luckily, there is CDC publicly-available data one can download & look at this. 1st step is to show hospitalizations not increasing in kids with delta

Then one wants to look at regions with prominent delta prevalence in the US and ask whether "hospitalizations per case" is increasing to see if more virulent. Luckily, not the case as shown by the chart in the paper - actually hospitalizations per case less with more delta

Then third question is whether it evades vaccines which we have good real-world data on that the delta doesn't as below

And also some amazing immunologic research showing that evasion is unlikely with this variant

And the effectiveness of these vaccines in the US are being shown as we speak as the unvaccinated comprise 99% of those hospitalized in the US with COVID

So, what is there to do?
1) Increase vaccinations among those eligible in US which will protect those not yet eligible (children) and avert hospitalizations
2) Global vaccine equity to stop these preventable deaths and stop variants from coming

Similar points made in the @NYT today about delta variant doesn't seem to be more severe & need to increase vaccination
nytimes.com/2021/07/15/bri…