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What we know about the Delta variant of COVID-19; Triad experts weigh in

Dr. Christopher Ohl said people who are vaccinated mostly do not need to worry about the variant. That's not the case for unvaccinated people.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — There are still a lot of questions about the latest strain of COVID-19, the Delta variant.

Meanwhile, summer is rolling in and some people are leaving their masks and social distancing behind.

"Largely, it seems like the U.S., including here in the Triad, has kind of figured that COVID might be over," Dr. Christopher Ohl at Wake Forest Baptist Health said.

Ohl is an infectious disease expert. He and other health experts said the Delta variant is becoming more common. That can mean a few different things depending on a person's vaccination status.

"If you've been vaccinated, this is really nothing to worry about," Ohl said. "What this virus is going to do is take advantage of pockets of unvaccinated populations."

Ohl said about 10 to 15 percent of the virus circulating in our state is the Delta variant. In other states, like Arkansas and Missouri, he said it's closer to 90 percent, and cases went up when it started spreading.

But it's not just spreading in the U.S. He said the new strain is circulating in other countries, too. 

"Their case numbers are going up. As a whole, they are experiencing a third wave of infection right now in England and Scotland," Ohl said. "That could potentially happen to us in North Carolina. It wouldn't surprise me."

Ohl said infections with this variant are still rare among the vaccinated, but he said boosters could still be possible later this year.

How soon you could need one depends on how many doses you've already had.

"What we know from England and Scotland is that if you've gotten one dose of the vaccine, it's not nearly as robust in protecting you as having had two doses," Ohl said.

He said that might include people who have received the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

Johnson & Johnson told WFMY News 2's Grace Holland in a statement that there is no evidence that a booster shot will be necessary.

Health experts still said getting any amount of vaccine protects very well against hospitalization and death.

That's also why Dr. Cynthia Snider, a Cone Health infectious disease expert, said it's so important for everyone to get theirs.

"We know that this Delta variant is more infectious, and you know the urgency that we had to get vaccines back earlier this year. We should still have that same urgency for those now who are unvaccinated," Snider said.

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