'The Delta variant is far more transmissible': COVID-19 cases soar in Houston

It seems that people who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination in Texas communities like Houston are fueling a new upsurge in cases, causing health officials to raise the threat level from the second lowest tier (yellow) to the second highest (orange) on July 22.

Hidalgo County health officials are urging unvaccinated residents to wear masks, maintain social distancing from others and avoid large gatherings.

A report in Click 2 Houston said according to the Centers for Disease Control, the upswing in cases is being caused by more recent “Delta variant” form of the virus which currently accounts for 83% of cases across the U.S.

On July 25, The New York Times reported 254 new cases of the virus in Houston with a seven-day average of 737 cases.

Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo appeared at a news conference in Houston to update media about the threat-level change along with Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor University (Waco) School of Medicine. Hidalgo urged Houston-area and Texas residents to take precautions.

"COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging at an enormously fast and accelerating rate,” Hidalgo said in a tweet. “Harris County today re-enters threat level orange. I urge everyone to wear masks and get vaccinated."   

In a KHOU report, Hidalgo said the state of Texas and the country are facing two epidemics, the COVID-19 D variant and misinformation about vaccinations and the virus.

“We find ourselves in the midst of not one pandemic but two,” Hidalgo said. “Thousands of lives lost, our economy on its heels, but also the arrival of miracle vaccines that have proven effective and safe. That are readily available and free, that is keeping residents from dying at the hands of this virus. We’re also in the midst of another pandemic. And that’s the pandemic of misinformation.”

Hotez identified social media and “conservative media pundits” for misleading people, telling them they don’t need to get vaccinated.  

“The Delta variant is far more transmissible than anything we have seen before,” Hotez said. “It’s far more contagious. We are dealing with this Delta variant that is twice as contagious as the original COVID-19 virus.”

Hotez added that people who have avoided COVID so far and refuse to get vaccinated are playing reckless with their lives. Their luck will eventually run out.

“That's how transmissible this virus is,” Hotez said.