Delta variant now dominant COVID-19 strain in US, CDC says

The Delta variant became California’s dominant COVID-19 strain last month.

It needed only a few days in July to become the dominant strain across the country.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data Tuesday showing the Delta variant, which first originated in India, accounted for 51.7% of nationwide COVID-19 cases over the two weeks ending July 3.

For the two weeks ending June 19, the Delta variant accounted for just 30.4% of cases.

In the region containing Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and some other U.S. territories, the Delta variant accounted for 57.1% of cases during that time.

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Data released at the beginning of June indicated the Delta variant ended July as California’s dominant COVID-19 strain, accounting for 35.6% of all cases in the state.

Officials and public health experts have said the Delta variant poses a significant risk to people who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19, due to its higher transmissibility. The Bay Area currently has some of the country’s highest vaccination rates, while 59.6% of California residents aged 12 or older were fully vaccinated as of Monday.

Most of last month's deaths and infections in the U.S. were among people who aren’t vaccinated.

"The overwhelming proportion of people who get into trouble are the unvaccinated, which is the reason why we say this is really entirely avoidable and preventable," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert said Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press."

President Joe Biden's administration aimed to vaccinate 70% of American adults with at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 4, falling short of the goal with about 67% of adults at least partially vaccinated.

In an address Tuesday, Biden said the administration will try to raise the vaccination rate by working with pharmacies, delivering vaccines to family doctors, healthcare providers and pediatricians, collaborating with employers to make vaccines available at work and sending out mobile clinics to popular public events.

"Now we need to go to community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood and, oftentimes, door to door – literally knocking on doors – to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus," the president said.

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