Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Pretty simple.
The Delta variant is about 2X more infectious than the original Wuhan strain. Persons who are in the early stages of infection have far more virus in their nasal structure than with the original strain, this emit far more viral particles, thus are much more likely to infect others.
Even with this variant, persons who are vaccinated are roughly 70-80% less likely to become noticeably ill (symptomatic) and roughly 90% less likely to become severely ill (hospitalized, ventilated, death) than those who are not vaccinated. I.e. getting vaccinated is very protective, for the person vaccinated.
However, about 1/3 of Americans are not vaccinated. God knows why. They remain entirely unprotected, and when infected will be infectious. And a small number of Americans are so immunocompromised that they are not well protected even if vaccinated.
And a small number of vaccinated persons will still get infected. They may feel no ill effects themselves, but will still be emitting virus particles.
So, with this variant, and with the current vaccines, if we want to do our best to protect everyone, the best thing to do is to wear masks when indoors close to other people. Even if vaccinated.
Sounds like you’re not happy about it. Neither am I. Tough *****. The virus isn’t about making us happy.
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From about an R2.5 to an R5
That can be misleading. Let's call it a R2 and R4.
1 infects 2, 2 infect 4, then those 4 infect 8, then 16,
Up to...
1 infects 4, 16, 64, 256,
16 vs 256.