Delta Variant Causes Spike In COVID-19 Infection Cases, Expert Says US Doesn't Need Lockdown

Illustration of a subway station in the United States. (Wikimedia Commons/Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) does not need to go into lockdown even though cases of COVID-19 infection due to the Delta variant have recently increased, because the percentage of citizens who have been vaccinated is adequate.

This is according to US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. "A sufficient percentage of Americans have now been vaccinated to escape the lockdown," Fauci said on ABC's 'This Week'.

"Not enough to destroy the plague, but I believe enough not to let us get into a situation like last winter," Fauci explained.

While a COVID-19 vaccine remains scarce in much of the world, it is available free of charge to anyone aged 12 or older in the United States, where cash prizes, new cars and other incentives have failed to motivate more than a third of the population to be immunized.

"We have 100 million people in this country who are eligible for vaccination who are not vaccinated," said Anthony Fauci, who is also director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Meanwhile, about 58 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, ranging from a high of 76 percent in Vermont to a low of 40 percent in Mississippi. After declining for weeks, the number of people being vaccinated began to increase again.

"The bottom line is, people are aware of this and it may be a tipping point for those who have doubts. That's what really needs to happen if we're to get this Delta variant back where it belongs, because right now we're throwing a pretty big party in the middle. country," National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told CNN on Sunday.

US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. (Wikimedia Commons/NIAID)

One of the states with the worst outbreaks this time around is Florida, which is based on new cases per capita and has seen infections increase by 50 percent week-on-week. However, Governor Ron DeSantis has blocked the mandate of face masks at state schools, saying parents have to decide.

"It makes sense in a community where the virus is spreading, and that's almost all of Florida right now, to do everything you can to prevent it, including wearing masks for kids at school," Collins said.

Meanwhile, the average number of reported new coronavirus cases in Uncle Sam's country has almost doubled in the past 10 days, according to a Reuters analysis. If states don't go into lockdown again, the spread of the Delta variant could still threaten the economy.

To note, the surge in cases of the Delta variant also shook the world. Several Asian regions that were previously relatively successful in containing COVID-19, such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, are now in lockdown.

In Australia, an ineffective month-long lockdown contained the spread of the Delta variant, prompting local authorities to extend the lockdown until August 28. Starting today, the army has been involved in enforcing lockdown measures in Sydney, which has been badly affected by the Delta variant.

Meanwhile in France, where the government is battling a fourth wave of infections, thousands of people staged for the third week in a row to oppose the health card policy, which shows a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter many public places.