LogFAQs > #956277193

_SecretSquirrel posted...

Also, I pray that no areas of the country end up with full ICUs again.

Unfortunately we already have some in Missouri and Arkansas, and anywhere the vaccination rate is low will follow. Surgeries are being postponed again at some hospitals. It sucks.

They key detail with this whole situation is how the delta variant is spreading so rapidly that, as long as there isn't a significant extra mutation that confers immune escape (worse than the Beta/South African variant), this wave will probably have a more rapid peak and dropoff than past ones. A lot of hospitals are anecdotally reporting to media that they're seeing "younger patients" which, given the much higher vaccination rates among older demographics, makes sense. Without any solid evidence that severity of disease is any worse with this variant than with the original or Alpha/British variant, you have to assume the breakdown of the demographic spread is similar to before.

So if such a massive volume of young people are driving the uptick in hospitalizations, it has to be assumed that the proportion of undetected, asymptomatic infections is greater than before.

To actually answer the question, I'm concerned for further mutations but not terribly so. And for my own safety, I'm vaccinated and so is my entire extended family so we should be okay. I am still wearing a mask indoors. My own county has a mediocre to poor vaccination rate.

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Essy