WEBVTT - Delta Variant Causing Concern in Places With Low Vaccination Rates 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600 It's Wednesday, July seven. I'm oscar mirrors from the Daily 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:07.400 Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:11.080 The delta COVID nineteen variant continues to cause worry among 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.800 public health officials, especially in places like Wyoming where only 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.880 people are fully vaccinated and big events are taking place 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:21.840 like a ten day rodeo set to start later this month. 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.120 Julie Warren, now health and science reporter at the Wall 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.840 Street Journal, joins us for how this variant is gaining 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.960 ground among the unvaccinated. Thanks for joining us, Julie, happy 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.920 to be here. The delta variant of COVID nineteen is 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.600 still of concern for many public health officials, particularly in 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.559 states where vaccination rates are low. Obviously, a lot of 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.360 people aren't getting infected in the same rates as before 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.520 as as the height of the pandemic, but hospital chains 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.120 hospitals are still worried about surges, especially when it comes 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.040 to the delta variant. You wrote a piece looking at 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.240 Wyoming in particular. They have a very low vaccination rate 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.080 and a couple of big events coming up pretty soon, 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.680 so people are a little worried about what could happen. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.679 So Julie help us walk through what we're seeing. So 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.240 Laramie County in Wyoming is sort of a perfect illustration 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.680 of what we're seeing in pockets around the country. You've 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:17.679 got an area where, you know, they've really struggled with 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.160 their vaccination rate, sort of the wild West, and people 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.960 just aren't signing up anymore to get vaccinate. So they're 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.800 at about thirty two vaccination rate, which really isn't high 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.480 enough to kind of prevent the spread of things like 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.720 the delta variant in the community. And on top of that, 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.880 you have the fact that they have completely gotten rid 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.080 of any of the restrictions around mask wearing and you know, 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.760 anything that we saw earlier in the pandemic, And so 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:48.280 people are sort of returning to normal life in this 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.680 situation in which the delta variant is showing up and 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.640 you really only can see it visibly if you're at 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.560 the hospital itself. On top of that fourth July weekend, 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.800 and this huge rodeo that's coming to town kind of 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.279 has public health officials and doctors. They are concerned about 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.000 what's to come. Are we still seeing younger patients coming 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.360 in more often with this? Is this where the bulk 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:16.040 of infections is coming from in some ways. Right. The 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.160 reason we're not seeing as many older patients is because 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.760 folks on the older end of the spectrum actually do 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.720 have a much higher vaccination rate in general, right, And 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.040 so if you are seeing people come through the doors, 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.240 you're more likely to see these younger patients. There are 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:34.360 pediatric patients that are showing up in addition to you know, 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:36.440 I spoke to a woman who is twenty eight years 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:38.560 old and she had a very kind of classic case 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.480 of what we're seeing with the delta variant, which is 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.440 that once she was exposed, it came on very quickly 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.959 and then sort of spread within her household. So that 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.120 is very different than in the past that there's a 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:53.200 much wider range of folks at the hospital in terms 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.000 of age. You spoke to a number of people at 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.240 you know, these hospitals and different care centers, and they 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.200 said that their fight obviously this on two fronts. Still 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.120 people getting sick, but then a lot of misinformation. You know, 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.240 a lot of people are sick of hearing about COVID. 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:08.800 They don't want to hear about anymore. They don't want 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.280 to be told to be vaccinated. But the misinformation a 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.080 lot of times is what keeping is keeping them from 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.600 going out and getting those shots. You know, yes, we've 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.440 had time for you know, the virus and to kind 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.040 of spread and mutate and change and grow. But at 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.840 the same time, misinformation has also kind of been changing 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.840 and growing and spreading, and so earlier on you know, 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.320 people who said, you know, they didn't maybe they showed 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:35.360 up and they said that they felt like maybe you know, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.880 there were tracking devices that were being inserted into them 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.680 from the vaccine. Now you're hearing things like we don't 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.000 even want to get tested for COVID because we're concerned 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.640 that the disease is actually being spread through testing. So 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.480 there's there's new kind of narratives that keep popping up 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.720 that the doctors and healthcare workers say that they are 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.240 sort of combating as they try to take care of 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.960 this population. To be clear, we're not seeing numbers as 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.080 I mentioned earlier, the way we did at the height 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.160 of the pandemic. But our hospital systems out there being 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.480 over taxed still. I know they're like bracing for surges 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.120 and all, but are they being over tax right now 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.839 so far? You know what's interesting when I'm when I'm 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.000 hearing by and large as people saying that they've in 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.240 one respect actually prepared better now for a situation in 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.719 which they could become tax At the same time, these 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.719 really are happening, like popping up into very particular sort 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.679 of pockets, and so you know, if one hospital system 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.039 becomes overwhelmed, they are more likely to possibly be able 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.560 to rely on another hospital system. So you're not seeing 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.600 the kind of really over taxed hospital systems quite yet 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.719 in a widespread manner, of course. You know, the reasons 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.200 that health officials are concerned is that if anyone remembers 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.400 back to when this disease first showed up in the 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:55.280 United States, it didn't take very long for something that 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.760 looked sort of like a very small pocket or blip 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.960 to immediately we kind of take over the whole United States, right, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:07.080 And so they're always looking for these signs that something 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.320 that's doubling every day or you know, that kind of thing. 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:13.640 It doesn't take that long for that to actually become 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.600 really visible to people in the community. And so right 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.520 now we're waiting to see if the vaccination rates we 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.680 have been able to get to end the end the 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.320 social distancing and mask wearing that is going on is 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:27.039 enough to kind of prevent the kind of thing that 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.479 we saw earlier on in the pandemic. We're talking about 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.320 Wyoming kind of as a as an example of a 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.440 state with a low vaccination rates and just getting back 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.440 to normal and kind of the concern that the delta 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.000 variant poses in places like that. Cheyenne Frontier Days is 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.840 a huge rodeo that's coming to town pretty soon. As 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.960 we said at the beginning, it starts on July garth. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.240 Brooks is going to be playing there. It's gonna be 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.880 a huge ten day event. So this worries these public 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.839 health officials. There probably won't be a lot of mass squaring, 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.000 but this is these big things, is what's concerning That's right. 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.400 I mean, they say that the Cian Frontier Days has 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.520 sort of done a lot to try to position themselves 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.920 in a way that people understand that they what they 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.360 really do want is for people to show up and 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.120 be vaccinated and to wear masks if they're not vaccinated. 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.880 But at a certain point, the public health officials in 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.880 the area say, you know, at this point last year 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:22.480 at the Frontier Days, we canceled it because no one 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.200 had a choice to get vaccinated. But this year, people 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.760 do have a choice, and we can't continue to stop 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.640 the entire economy to protect people who aren't really interested 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.280 in taking the vaccine or social distancing or wearing masks. Well, 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.280 we'll keep an eye on what happens there and around 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.360 the country, as the delta variant is now the dominant 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.640 strain in the country. Julie, we're now health and science 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:48.880 reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Thank you very much 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:54.719 for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm Oscar Romeris, 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.440 and this has been reopening America. Don't forget effort today's 0:06:58.480 --> 0:06:59.960 big news stories. You can check me out in the 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.240 Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.880 on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.