Concern is growing across the world as the highly-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus emerges as a threat.
With the Bay Area continuing to fully reopen and people beginning to shed masks completely, should residents be concerned about this new, heavily transmissible form of the virus?
"If you’re fully vaccinated, you’re safe. If you’re not fully vaccinated, that’s a completely different kettle of fish, and with the Delta variant you need to be very careful about exposures," Dr. George Rutherford, Director of Prevention and Public Health Group at UCSF, told KCBS Radio on Monday.
He admitted that new strand is a concern due to its highly transmissible nature. An individual that contracted other forms of the virus would usually infect about three and a half to four people, while someone that contracts the Delta variant can infect as many as five or six.
For example, Israel, a country relatively highly vaccinated, has seen an increase in cases due to the Delta variant. "But again, most of the cases are occurring in people that are unvaccinated there," Dr. Rutherford said.
Hong Kong announced Monday, in an effort to keep the variant out of the country, they are banning incoming flights from the UK starting Thursday. Other countries may try some form of this strategy to prevent further spread, though the variant has already proliferated worldwide according to Rutherford.
He reassured the Bay Area that, generally, the only Delta Variant cases in the region were from unvaccinated people. Counties such as Marin, which is 70% vaccinated, and San Francisco, 67% vaccinated, remain relatively safe.
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