New ‘Delta Plus’ COVID Variant Detected In San Francisco Bay Area: ‘It’s At Least As Bad’ As Original

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KPIX-TV) — As the Delta variant of the coronavirus fuels an ongoing COVID wave, Bay Area wellness experts are keeping a adjacent oculus connected yet different variant: Delta Plus.

“We judge that it’s astatine slightest arsenic atrocious arsenic Delta,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious illness specializer astatine the University of California San Francisco. “We don’t cognize if it’s adjacent worse than Delta yet. When I accidental worse we deliberation astir fig one: is it much transmissible? Number two, does it evade vaccines? And, fig three, does it marque you sicker?”

The Santa Clara County Public Health Department has detected 46 cases of the Delta Plus mutation, according to their latest statistics. It is not the ascendant strain successful the area, however.

Santa Clara County provided KPIX-TV successful San Francisco with the pursuing statement: “The County of Santa Clara is presently tracking the Delta variant, and the “Delta plus” variants connected our dashboard. Cases of Delta-plus beryllium statewide and nationwide and determination is presently not capable accusation connected these peculiar variants to bespeak whether they whitethorn beryllium much concerning than the archetypal Delta variant.”

“Having further variants is going to beryllium expected with immoderate virus,” explained Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, prof of Global Health & Infectious Diseases astatine Stanford University School of Medicine. “The information there’s a Delta positive doesn’t mean this is going to beryllium immoderate amended oregon worse. At this point, we conscionable don’t know.”

Both doctors expect much mutations volition proceed to originate until vaccination rates increase.

“Delta-plus is not the extremity of the story. Until much of america get vaccinated we’re going to person these reports of weird different Greek letters and combinations of Greek letters — we mightiness adjacent tally retired of the Greek alphabet,” Dr. Chin-Hong said. “It sounds similar a breached grounds but we’re going to spot these things popular up until much of america are vaccinated to footwear them retired of our communities.”

“What we tin bash is get vaccinated and support ourselves from getting infected. That’s however we halt these viruses from mutating,” Dr. Maldonado said. “We person to conscionable support these viruses from transmitting truthful that we volition trim the hazard of processing the adjacent variant that could beryllium worse than Delta and we don’t cognize if Delta-plus is that virus.”