By Lexi Masarweh | Staff Writer
The vaccines are successful against the delta variant, especially at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. Even though the vaccines are highly effective, vaccinated individuals may still contract and spread the variant to the unvaccinated. This is the reason why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that vaccinated individuals wear masks indoors again.
The CDC reported that the unvaccinated are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized than fully-vaccinated individuals are.
The areas in which vaccination rates are low are where COVID-19 cases are rising. New locations that are experiencing a surge and setting records of cases do not have high vaccination rates.
Hospitals are starting to fill all of their intensive care unit beds due to the variant. Most of the patients being seen are unvaccinated. This is caused by the loosening of COVID-19 protocols and the decline of vaccinations.
The vaccines help prevent hospitalization and death; however, they do not fully prevent transmission. Experts said that 99% of COVID-19 deaths are among the unvaccinated. According to the CDC, the age group with the most hospitalizations due to the virus is 18 to 49 years old. The rate of death of those who are 18 to 29 years old is 600 times higher than that of those who are 85 years old and up.
A study that analyzed CDC data indicated that there were 37,000 and 76,000 preventable hospitalizations among unvaccinated individuals in June and July, respectively. The CDC said about 97% of those currently hospitalized due to the virus are unvaccinated.
According to the CDC, people with COVID-19 can have a wide range of symptoms, from mild to severe.
“I got COVID in November, then I got vaccinated in March, then I just got COVID again a few weeks ago,” Dallas nursing student Natalie Vita said. “The second time was much worse. I had headaches and felt off for a week or so. Then I got tested, and it was positive. After that, I got pretty sick—just body aches and fever, like the flu.”
Vaccinated people who have been infected with the virus can experience symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, fatigue, body aches, headache, sore throat, runny nose, diarrhea and loss of taste or smell.
Some students who are unvaccinated have experienced a range of symptoms, from a few mild symptoms to almost all possible symptoms.
“I really didn’t have any symptoms,” Dallas junior Karson Wheatland, who is unvaccinated, said. “I was groggy, had some sweats when I slept, but that’s it. I had a headache here and there.”
