“The rapid spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus is poised to divide the United States again, with highly vaccinated areas continuing toward post-pandemic freedom and poorly vaccinated regions threatened by greater caseloads and hospitalizations, health officials warned this week. The highly transmissible variant is taxing hospitals in a rural, lightly vaccinated part of Missouri, and caseloads and hospitalizations are on the rise in states such as Arkansas, Nevada and Utah, where less than 50 percent of the eligible population has received at least one dose of vaccine. One influential model, produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, predicts a modest overall surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths this fall. Scott Gottlieb, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that a fall surge could occur even if 75 percent of the eligible population is vaccinated” The Washington Post reports.

It should be noted that none of the Covid-19 variants automatically die on contact with a vaccinated immune system. It still reproduces and transmits asymptomatically (though at a reduced level) so the Delta virus is spreading – possibly as easily as the original Covid did last year because vaccinated Americans are by and large no longer wearing masks or social distancing the way they did for most of 2020. If you are an adult, are not vaccinated, and to your knowledge did not ever get infected with the original virus (though that’s far less of a safe bet than being vaxxed) then you should probably avoid going out in public at all costs.