CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Delta variant of COVID-19 is by far the most dominant strain now spreading. It accounts for more than 93 percent of all new COVID cases, according to the CDC.
So what can be done to slow the highly contagious variant?
“It’s a respiratory virus like the flu, or the common cold, or the original variant of SARS-COV-2, so it spreads through our respiratory secretions, person-to-person, so the same measures we’ve taken before to prevent respiratory illness will work here,” said Daniel Rhoads, MD, microbiologist for Cleveland Clinic.
One of those measures is getting vaccinated.
Rhoads says not only does it protect you and make symptoms much milder if you do get COVID, but it can also prevent future mutations from developing.
That's a real concern for doctors right now who are keeping an eye on new variants emerging in other countries.
"Lambda is in South America, people are concerned about that one. There's a whole list of emerging variants that are of interest, or concern, or on the watch list. If you go to WHO's website, they have a whole list of them. So there are lots of variants around, but over time, biology proves the winner and we see which one emerges as the predominant variant," Rhoads said.
The CDC says the Delta variant is more prevalent in areas where vaccination rates are low, so you should look into that before traveling.
