GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Guilford County leaders have heightened concerns as the Delta variant continues to spread in the Triad, saying by August 1, they expect 90 percent of new cases to be the Delta variant.
Guilford County Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann said in the spring, the Delta variant made up less than one percent of cases.
WFMY News 2 spoke with Guilford County leaders one day after the CDC backpedaled guidance, saying vaccinated people should wear a mask indoors when in hotspot areas.
"In rare occasions, some vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread the virus to others. This new science is worrisome," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky
Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston said when it comes to restrictions and backpedaling even further, he's not ruling anything out.
"I think any and all possibilities are on the table," he said.
Alston was in talks with other county leaders about reinstating mask rules in county buildings for everyone, vaccinated or not. He said they will begin effective Thursday everyone in a county building who are vaccinated or not must wear a mask.
Alston first had to go through the approval process before reinstating the mask requirements.
"We have to take some stringent measures in order to protect all of the citizens and not some of those that are just defiant that they are not going to take this vaccination," he said, "If it gets worse, we will have to go to more stringent measures and call for more mask mandates inside, outside, throughout Guilford County. We don't want to get to that point."
During a virtual news conference Wednesday, Dr. Vann talked about the concerns with the Delta variant, as it's more contagious than previous dominant forms of the virus.
"One person has COVID-19 with this variant can spread the illness to 7 or 8 other individuals," she said.
Dr. Vann said the concerning trends are reflected in the numbers at a county and state level and are increasing at a rate she doesn't anticipate stopping in the immediate future.
"As of today we are at a 4.4 percent positivity rate for Guilford County and this has happened in the last three weeks and we also anticipate this particular metric is also going to continue to go up in the coming weeks," she said.