The Biden administration is planning to announce on Thursday that it will send out response teams across the U.S. to help fight against the spread of the Indian ‘Delta’ variant, a new report claims.
A White House official told CNN that the teams will consist of workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Officials will go into communities where there are low vaccinations rates and a high presence of the variant, a potentially deadly combination.
Response teams will help increase coronavirus testing, providing supplies and treatments like monoclonal antibodies and try to boost vaccinations, the source told CNN.
It comes as the Delta variant continues to spread across the country and has now been detected in every state and Washington, DC.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the Delta variant has driven an explosion of coronavirus cases, causing infections to spike by about 68 percent in one week.
The Biden administration is reportedly planning to announce it will send response teams across the U.S. to increase testing, provides supplies such as antibody treatments and boost vaccination rates in a fight against the Delta variant. Pictured: photo, Bobbie Guillette receives a shot of the Pfizer vaccine in Springfield, Missouri, June 22
The Delta variant has now been detected in all 50 states, with South Dakota being the last state to report a case on Tuesday, and makes up 26.1% of infections across the country
Teams will consists of workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will go to U.S. communities with low vaccinations rates (above in dark blue) and a high presence of the Delta variant
Known as B.1.617.2, the Delta variant has been labeled as a ‘double mutant’ by India’s Health Ministry because it carries two mutations: L452R and E484Q.
L452R is the same mutation seen with the California homegrown variant and E484Q is similar to the mutation seen in the Brazilian and South African variants.
Both of the mutations occur on key parts of the virus that allows it to enter and infect human cells.
As of Thursday, the variant makes up 26.1 percent of all new infections in the U.S., according to CDC data.
The Delta strain has now been detected in all 50 states with South Dakota being the last state to report a case, which was confirmed on Tuesday.
The variant (in dark orange) has caused an explosion of cases in the UK and health experts believe it is only a matter of time before the same occurs in the U.S. as the prevalence grows
While only one infection has been detected, officials believe they are many more undetected across the state.
‘We are closely following this development and would like to reiterate, to all South Dakotans, the importance of getting tested and vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus,’ Kim Malsam-Rysdon, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Health said on Tuesday.
‘With easier access to the vaccine and testing, it has never been easier to protect yourself, your family, and our communities.
Dr Anthony Fauci recently warned that the U.S. may soon be divided into ‘two Americas’ as the disparity grows between vaccinated and unvaccinated regions and the Delta variant continues to spread.
In an appearance on CNN’s Don Lemon on Tuesday night, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said he is ‘very concerned about’ seeing the country split in two – one half where the majority of residents are vaccinated against COVID-19 and the other half where they are not immunized, leading to a rise in cases.
‘When you have such a low level of vaccination superimposed upon a variant that has a high degree of efficiency of spread, what you are going to see among under-vaccinated regions, be that states, cities or counties, you’re going to see these individual types of blips,’ Fauci said.
‘It’s almost like it’s going to be two Americas.’
A recent report from the CDC found that several U.S. counties in the South and West have been seeing an increase in cases coupled with low immunization rates.
Areas in states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming are reporting between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 people in the last week,
This is much higher than the national average of 21.8 infections per 100,000.
All five states have vaccinated fewer than 35 percent of their total populations, which is lower than the national average of 46.3 percent, CDC data show.
Counties in the South and West, such as Arkansas, Mississippi and Wyoming reported between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 in the last week, compared to the national average of 21.8 cases per 100,000
Dr Anthony Fauci told CNN on Tuesday (pictured) that he is ‘very concerned’ the U.S. is being divided into ‘two Americas,’ one where most people are vaccinated one where most are not
The Biden administration has deployed response teams for vaccines before, but this is the first time it has done so to combat a varinat, the White House official told CNN.
The variant is wreaking havoc in the UK too, where officials recorded more than 20,000 for the fourth day in a row
There were 27,989 infections recorded on Thursday, which is a 68 percent increase from the 16,703 cases recorded seven days ago.
It also represents a 1,200 percent increase from 2,000 cases recorded in late April, when the Delta variant first took hold.
Although deaths remain low, the overall number rose with 22 recorded on Thursday, which is up 4.8 percent from the 21 recorded last Thursday.
Health experts say the spike in infections was inevitable due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant, coupled with the easing of lockdown restrictions, Euro 2020 and a boom in staycations.
Only one of 149 local authorities in England -Blackburn with Darwen – saw its Covid cases fall in the week ending June 27, the latest available., with the rest seeing increases
Doctors fear that what is happening in the UK will only occur a month or two later in the U.S.
If half of unvaccinated American adults contract the Delta variant, and the variant causes death at the same rate in the U.S. as it did in England, an estimated 42,000 unvaccinated Americans could die from the variant, according to a DailyMail.com analysis.
In the UK, of the more than 92,000 people who have contracted the Delta variant, 53,822 were unvaccinated, per data from Public Health England
Of the unvaccinated group, 67 people died, a death rate of 0.12 percent.
If just half of unvaccinated American adults – over 35.3 million people – were to contract the virus, and die at the same rate then that would be 42,000 American deaths from the variant, the analysis found.
The death rate could be even higher in America, though, due to decreased access to health services in the states and a generally more unhealthy population.
