We go about our business, mostly not wearing masks, as if covid was a thing of the past. And certainly it is greatly diminished. But it’s still out there, hitting people who haven’t been vaccinated and mutating along the way.
And these variants are dangerous. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner, was on Face the Nation on CBS on Sunday. He said the Delta variant, which started in India and is now spreading worldwide, is more transmissible and is more dangerous.
“It appears that people who get this virus have higher viral loads and they have those viral loads for longer periods of time,” he said. “So they shed more virus. Right now in the United States, it’s about 10% of infections. It’s doubling every two weeks so it’s going to become the dominant strain here in the United States.”
The good news is that, as Gottlieb said, the vaccine that is available now is effective against this new variant. The bad news is that the number of people getting vaccinated is slowing, and a good percentage of the population — about a third, according to health officials — is questioning whether even to get the vaccine.
The combination has resulted in a condition not seen in a while — the number of new cases is not falling any longer across the country. And the same is true for Arkansas.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A recent story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said that new cases had been around 200 a day. Then on Thursday, that number jumped to 289. And on Friday, the number jumped again to 393 cases, making it the “largest one-day increase in almost three months,” the article stated.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted the negative swing in the news.
“Our vaccination numbers are up, but our active cases have increased,” the governor tweeted. “Let’s keep going in the right direction as we enter summer.”
It will, perhaps, take more than a tweet to make that happen. Across the nation, some 44% of the public has been fully vaccinated. In Arkansas, we stand at a little more than 32%. How does the state compare to other states? Out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, Arkansas is 49th, eclipsed in lackluster vaccine turnout by only Alabama and Mississippi. Some things never change.
Jefferson County, at 29% fully vaccinated, is even below the poor statewide average.
Gottlieb said he thinks the variant won’t be a big problem for a while but that the nation could see another spike with the new strain this fall.
Yes, we are now going to church and to weddings and funerals and to the grocery store without masks, but if you haven’t been vaccinated, you are putting yourself and others at risk. As the governor noted, there is plenty of vaccine available. Take advantage of it and then you can stop wondering and worrying and we’ll all be safer.