PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — COVID-19 case totals are climbing in the Philadelphia area and across the country. The delta variant gets most of the blame, but some experts say that shouldn’t excuse human behavior.
“We know that the delta variant is more contagious, and we also know people are gathering much more so than they did before,” said Montgomery County Office of Public Health Medical Director Dr. Richard Lorraine.
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He said more gatherings seem to be the primary driver, rather than people taking off masks.
“People are getting together," Dr. Lorraine adds, "so I would certainly expect that there’s more transmission based on the gathering part of it than the mask part of it.”
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He said while the number of cases are going up, the number of hospitalizations and deaths are not.
"It may be a more infectious type. It does not seem to be a more deadly type," Dr. Lorraine shared.
He notes the deaths and hospitalizations are almost all people who were unvaccinated.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the vaccine education center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, sits on the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee. He pointed out that numbers this summer are similar to last summer when we didn’t have a vaccine.
Dr. Offit said one reason is the delta variant, as he says it’s much more contagious than the virus that was circulating last summer. But he cites what he calls a bigger reason.
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“Our behavior is much different this summer than last summer," said Dr. Offit.
"Last summer, we were afraid to have weddings or birthdays, and we were afraid to go to sporting events.”
He adds, however, there is a more concerted effort to mislead people.
“It’s just the zeitgeist, which is one of conspiracy and scientific denialism, vaccine denialism and cultism and it’s just purveyors of misinformation (who) thrive.”
Offit said the best way to slow the spread of the virus is for more people to vaccinated.
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