COVID-19 delta variant in Louisiana: What you need to know as cases surge again
Andrew CappsThe delta variant of COVID-19 now accounts for the vast majority of cases in Louisiana and surrounding states. Here’s what to know about the now-dominant strain of the virus.
COVID-19 cases are surging in Louisiana, the vast majority of which have been attributed to the virus' delta variant. On Monday, the state reported its largest ever single-day increase in COVID-19 cases at 6,109, though that includes cases identified over the weekend when daily case increases are not reported.
Still, new cases of the virus in Louisiana have more than tripled just in the past three weeks, with last week's 12,233 new cases marking an increase of 225% over cases reported from July 3-9.
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Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are also surging as a summer wave of cases mounts across the state, as the number of patients grew by more than 20% just over the weekend to reach 1,221 as of Monday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Delta is more contagious, with shorter incubation period
The delta variant is significantly more transmissible than the first strain of COVID-19 to reach the United States last year, and is even easier to spread than earlier deviations from the first strain, like the alpha variant that spread across the country early this spring, according to Dr. John Vanchiere, a professor of pediatrics and director of community testing and vaccination outreach at LSU Health Shreveport’s Center for Emerging Viral Threats.
“The reason that the delta variant is so important is that it is estimated to be 50% more transmissible than the alpha variant, which was already 50% more transmissible than the original virus,” Vanchiere said.
“Someone who is sick with this virus produces a lot more of the virus, 100 to 1,000 times more virus in your nose compared to the prior strains and variants that we've dealt with,” he added. “That hundreds or thousand times more virus means that each time you cough, sneeze, exhale, sing or yell at somebody, you're putting more virus out there into the air. And that makes it more contagious.”
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The delta variant’s higher viral load could also be responsible for its shorter incubation period between being exposed and developing symptoms, Vanchiere said, with symptoms developing within two or three days, as opposed to four to six days seen with earlier COVID-19 strains, though more research is needed to be certain.
Delta has similar symptoms but is dominating new COVID cases
The delta variant’s massively increased transmissibility is driving it to dominate new cases of COVID-19 in Louisiana and around the country.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the delta variant accounts for roughly 84% of new COVID-19 cases in Louisiana and the four other states in Louisiana’s health care region, which are Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Because the differences between COVID-19 variants occur at the molecular genetic level, traditional COVID-19 tests can’t differentiate between variant strains, so samples are regularly sent to the CDC for genetic sequencing to determine how prevalent each variant is in a given part of the country.
In Louisiana, the more-contagious delta strain’s impact on the virus’ spread has seen new cases explode in recent weeks, with last week seeing more than 12,000 new cases reported statewide across seven days for the first time since January.
"The number of new cases diagnosed each day in Louisiana has been increasing since June 16 and is now increasing in all regions of the state," Gov. John Bel Edwards said during a COVID-19 press conference Friday.
"Louisiana now has the highest growth rate in cases per capita in the United States of America,” he added.
Delta prevention: Masking, hand washing, social distancing
The prevalence of the delta variant in Louisiana and the possibility for unvaccinated people to still catch and spread the virus, frequently without symptoms, mean that the preventative guidelines used to slow the virus’ spread throughout the past year need to be back on peoples’ minds, Vanchiere said.
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That means wearing a mask around others, regardless of vaccination status, plus frequent handwashing and social distancing, according to LDH.
“What I always remind people is the risk will never ever again be zero. And so everything we're doing is about how to reduce risk,” Vanchiere said. “The biggest thing to reduce risk is vaccination. The second biggest thing to reduce risk is wearing masks.”
“Many adults and healthcare workers who are seeing this situation evolve are wearing masks, even though they've been vaccinated, because they want to reduce their risk even further,” he added. “I don't go in any store without wearing a mask, and whereas four or six months ago I was ok to go into restaurants, now I'm like, ‘No, this is not the time to do it.’ Especially when two out of three people that you interact with, or share airspace with, are not vaccinated.”
COVID-19 vaccinations are still the key
Vaccinations remain the best protection against COVID-19, Vanchiere said, and early studies suggest they remain effective against the delta variant, though scientific understandings of how effective they are against delta are still preliminary.
Unvaccinated people account for the vast majority of the state’s hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Ochsner Health System CEO Warner Thomas said last week that 97% of COVID-19 patients in the system’s facilities lack a vaccine.
A recent study found the two-dose Pfizer vaccine remained above 90% effective against the delta variant, Vanchiere said, while another found that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s efficacy dropped from between 60% and 70% against the original COVID-19 strain to around 40%.
“There may be some differences in breakthroughs between Pfizer and Moderna, but again, we don't have enough data just quite yet to know,” he said. “Are we having more breakthroughs with Moderna than with Pfizer? I don't know that answer yet. But that's an important question, and so a lot of things are in the works.”
Since the most recent spike in COVID-19 cases began, vaccinations have shot up in Louisiana, with last week seeing a 60% increase in new shots given compared to the week before. But Louisiana remains among the least vaccinated states in the country with around 39% of the state’s residents having already received at least one shot.
“At our site a month ago, we were doing 20, 30, maybe 40 vaccines a day. Now we're doing 100 a day,” Vanchiere said. “So we are seeing more people come who had been hesitant as of a while back and waiting to watch, and now they're coming out to get vaccinated. So that's good. That's very good, and we want to encourage that. The faster we get vaccinated, the safer we're going to be.”
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