In recent months, a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been making headlines as it has spread across the world. This so-called Delta variant, which is also known as B.1.617.2, was first identified in India in December 2020, then discovered in the United States in March 2021. Presently, people in all 50 states have tested positive for COVID-19 caused by the Delta variant.

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Doctors and researchers are still learning about the Delta variant, but they know many things so far. Here are three things that everyone should know:

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1. The Delta variant is more contagious than other SARS-CoV-2 virus strains. Research has shown that the Delta variant spreads more easily between people, and it appears that people are transmitting the virus to others sooner than people spread the original strain of the novel coronavirus.

   • Additionally, one recent study from China found that people who were presumably unvaccinated and infected with the Delta variant had a viral load within their respiratory systems that was 1,000 times higher than the amount of virus that was present among people who had been infected by the original strain of the virus.

   • The combination of a higher viral load, the ability to spread the virus to others earlier (when people may not realize that they’re sick) and the fact that this variant spreads more efficiently makes the Delta variant worrisome. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified it as a “variant of concern,” which is a term that’s used when a virus is more transmissible, causes more severe disease, or involves other complications.

2. People who are infected with the Delta variant may get sicker. Recently published research from Scotland has shown that unvaccinated people who are infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant are twice as likely to be hospitalized, due to severity of illness, than people who are infected with the COVID-19 Alpha variant, which had previously been identified as more contagious than the original strain of the virus. More research is needed to determine whether the Delta variant causes more severe illness than other strains, but the presence of a higher viral load may contribute to more symptoms among affected people.

3. COVID-19 vaccines offer the best protection against the Delta variant. The current research suggests that the COVID-19 vaccines that are available within the U.S. adequately protect against the Delta variant, although researchers will continue to study their effectiveness.

   • The CDC recommends that people who aren’t vaccinated should get the COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves from the risk of illness from COVID-19, including the Delta variant. In the event that someone who is vaccinated gets COVID-19, the vaccines protect against the severity of illness, which helps to prevent hospitalization and death.