The Delta variant may spread like chickenpox, and fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus: CDC Report

New York: According to media reports citing an internal document from the US health authority, the Delta variant of the coronavirus may cause more severe illness than all other known versions of the virus and spread as easily as chickenpox.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) document outlines unpublished data indicating that fully vaccinated people may spread the Delta variant, first identified in India, at the same rate as unvaccinated people, according to reports.

The contents of the document, a slide presentation, were first reported on Thursday by The Washington Post.

The CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle P Walensky, acknowledged on Tuesday that vaccinated people with so-called Delta variant breakthrough infections carry just as much virus in their nose and throat as unvaccinated people and may spread it just as easily, if less frequently.

But the internal document lays out a broader and even grimmer view of the variant.

According to the document, which The New York Times obtained a copy of, the Delta variant is more contagious than the viruses that cause MERS, SARS, Ebola, the common cold, seasonal flu, and smallpox, and it is as contagious as chickenpox.

According to the document, the Delta variant, originally known as B.1.617.2, may cause more severe disease.

The agency’s immediate next step, according to the document, is to acknowledge that the war has changed.

The tone of the document reflects CDC scientists’ concern about Delta’s spread across the country, according to a federal official who has seen the research described in the document, according to the New York Times.

On Friday, the agency is expected to release additional information about the lethal variant.

The CDC is very concerned about the data that is coming in, which indicates that Delta is a very serious threat that requires immediate action, according to the official.

According to data collected by the CDC as of July 24 and cited in the internal presentation, there are approximately 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans.

However, because the CDC does not track all mild or asymptomatic infections, the true incidence may be higher.

Infection with the Delta variant results in tenfold more virus in the airways than infection with the Alpha variant, which is also highly contagious, according to the document.

According to one recent study, the amount of virus in a person infected with Delta is a thousandfold greater than in people infected with the original version of the virus.

The CDC document is based on data from several studies, including an examination of a recent outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which began following the town’s Fourth of July celebrations.

According to Walensky, the Delta variant “is one of the most easily transmitted viruses we are aware of. Measles, chickenpox, and this are all present.”

She also stated that everyone in schools, including students, staff, and visitors, should wear masks at all times.

“The measures required to bring this under control are extreme. Extreme measures are required “According to Walensky.

“The bottom line was that, in contrast to the other variants, vaccinated people got infected and shed virus at similar levels as unvaccinated people who got infected,” Walter Orenstein, director of the Emory Vaccine Center and a reviewer of the documents, told CNN.

Vaccinated people, on the other hand, are safer, according to the document.

“Vaccines prevent more than 90% of severe disease, but may be less effective at preventing infection or transmission,” the report states.

“As a result, despite vaccination, there will be more breakthrough and community spread,” the document concludes.

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