U.S. tops 33.4M COVID-19 cases, concerns for delta variant rise

Dr. Sejal Hathi, Physician & Clinical Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital & host of “Civic Rx” podcast, joined Yahoo Finance to discuss the delta variant of COVIDS-19.

Video Transcript

JARED BLIKRE: I want to stick with the delta discussion here and bring in Dr. Sejal Hathi, physician and clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and host of Civics RX podcast. Thank you for joining us here. And I want to get your take on what Anjalee was just describing in terms of the delta and the delta plus variants. How concerned should people be about this?

SEJAL HATHI: Well, firstly, thank you for having me. And secondly, I'm concerned. I believe that the vast majority, and particularly all unvaccinated people here in the United States should be concerned. And all we have to do is look at the UK's experience. About a month ago, the UK had less than half the rate of infections per capita as the United States does. And unfortunately, since then, over the course of the last month, the UK's case rate has increased nearly six times. Hospitalizations there are up by 80%. And this is even though the United Kingdom has vaccinated a higher proportion of its population than us here in the United States.

And much of that, unfortunately, can be attributed to this delta variant, which numerous studies have now indicated is both more transmissible and potentially more deadly, as it has caused an increase in hospitalizations in all of the locations where it's been found. Of course, the delta variant is the predominant variant in the United Kingdom. It increasingly accounts for the variants sequenced here, upwards of 20% of those sequenced here in the United States. And it's the reason that a lot of countries, including Australia, and Sydney, particularly, are concerned. So I am concerned, and it's all the more reason that we need to increase those vaccination rates.

SEANA SMITH: And Doctor, even with the vaccination rates-- I guess they're still on the rise here in the US-- the CDC, they just released the numbers today. 4,100 people have been infected. They've been hospitalized or have died because of COVID breakthrough infections after vaccinations. I'm curious just to get your thoughts on this. Does that change how we think about this virus or how protected people are, or how, I guess, guarded maybe people should still be, even if they are vaccinated?

SEJAL HATHI: --better or worse [AUDIO OUT] approach a sense of normalcy greater than any we have enjoyed in this country since March of 2020. But if you are unvaccinated, then this is perhaps the most dangerous, the most tenuous stage of the pandemic that we have witnessed and you will have experienced to date. And let me say this-- the evidence is still evolving, and we may find in the future that perhaps the efficacy of the vaccines that we have is not as robust as we would like.

But a team in Scotland, for instance, has discovered that both doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine still reduce the chance of infection from this delta variant by 60%, which is not as grand or as great as perhaps you would like, but still a respectable showing. Meanwhile, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines demonstrated a 79% rate of efficacy against the delta variant. So again, not quite that 95% or 96% number, but still a high enough number that we should feel that we can return to many of the activities that we enjoyed pre-pandemic.

But for those that are unvaccinated, it is a scary time, and it is all the more reason to isolate the activities like going out to restaurants, going to the gym. Going to crowded even outdoor locations is not as free of risk as it might otherwise have been. And I'm strongly encouraging all of my patients, everyone I know who is still holding out from getting vaccinated to get vaccinated for this reason, because these variants are just going to continue appearing.

JARED BLIKRE: And we're well into summer drivetime season right now. We have 4th of July celebrations, Independence Day in the US all set for next weekend, and there's going to be a lot of activities, a lot of gatherings. How should people be approaching this, and do you see any potential outcomes, either positive or negative, from a policy-wise perspective?

SEJAL HATHI: So a lot of this has to do with your personal level of comfort. I and my fiance are both vaccinated, so we are celebrating the 4th of July with our friends who are vaccinated, with our family who are vaccinated. We feel safe and comfortable doing that. But some of our friends have children under the age of 12 who are not yet vaccinated, or a couple of them are immunocompromised or have members in the family who have immunocompromised who don't feel that they have the same level of protection. And for them, their celebrations this 4th of July are going to look a lot more tame.

And so really, much of this depends on your personal situation. I would say if you were vaccinated and you were healthy otherwise, you should feel comfortable celebrating this Independence Day. But if you have children who are not, if you have a level of immunocompromised, if there's a member of your family or you yourself are not vaccinated, then I would strongly encourage caution of the likes that we were all practicing several months ago.

And look, you talked about policy changes. The Biden administration is rolling out any number of incentives to increase that vaccination rate, and we're still seeing it fall below 1 million per day, unfortunately. But I think a number of patients I've spoken to and a lot of-- about a third of unvaccinated Americans [INAUDIBLE] recent survey [INAUDIBLE] that FDA approval would push them over the edge and motivate them to to get that vaccine. So I hope that we see that FDA approval soon. And that may encourage the vaccination rate to go higher.

JARED BLIKRE: Yeah, just kind of get rid of those emergency use authorizations. Thank you for that, doctor, and your insights. Dr. Sejal Hathi, physician and clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, and host of the Civics Rx podcast.