By Erika Edwards - NBC News
The delta variant now represents
more than 83% of the new COVID-19 infections
registered in the United States, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC for its acronym in English). ), during an appearance before the Senate Health Committee.
[Follow our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic]
As of July 17, the latest date for which data is available, the delta variant represented 83.2% of new COVID-19 cases that have been genetically sequenced in the country.
The CDC is expected to post these latest statistics on its website Tuesday afternoon.
The increase in the delta variant coincides with
a large increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the United States
, the CDC said last week.
Are people vaccinated against COVID-19 delta variant protected?
An expert explains
July 12, 202103: 37
This increase in cases related to the "hypertransmissible" variant is not unexpected.
Those infections
had been predicted to
double every few weeks.
Just a month ago, on June 19, the delta variant accounted for just over 30% of new cases.
On July 3, it crossed the 50% threshold to become the dominant variant in the country.
Studies have shown that
COVID-19 vaccines are effective against multiple variants, including the delta variant.
But the new data comes now that vaccination in the United States has slowed down.
As of Tuesday, less than half of the country's population, 48.6%, was fully vaccinated.
[Vaccines protect against the dangerous delta variant of COVID-19. But it takes both doses]
Those who remain unvaccinated are at higher risk of infection.
That includes children under the age of 12, for whom no vaccine is yet available.
There is no evidence that the variant is affecting children more, other than the fact that they are vulnerable because they cannot yet be vaccinated.
Paola Preciado undergoes a COVID-19 test on Thursday, July 15, 2021 in North Miami, Florida.
Florida's COVID-19 hospitalization numbers are on the rise again, ending months of steady decline after people stopped getting vaccinated.
This created a trend that has epidemiologists concerned as the more infectious Delta variant spreads.AP Photo / Marta Lavandier
"We're going to start looking at pediatric COVID," said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
"I think part of a strong acceleration of the delta variant will drag the kids with it," he added.
Authorization for the emergency use of
children's vaccines may not be available until mid-winter,
an official from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently told NBC News, a sister network of Noticias Telemundo. .
