Washington The former commissioner of Food and Drug Administration Dr. Scott Gottlieb said that the U.S. could face "very dense outbreaks" as the Delta variant continues to circulate.Gottlieb stated Sunday that "it's going to become hyper-regionalized," where certain pockets of the country are [where] we can experience very dense outbreaks," on CBS News' Face the Nation.Low vaccination rates and immunity from previous infections continue to make these areas most vulnerable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that many states in the south have lower vaccination rates than the national average.He said that if a community has low vaccination rates, and they also believe that the immunity to prior infection was low, then the virus has not spread through that area of the country. "Governors should be considering how to build health care resources in areas where there is still a lot of vulnerability," he said.Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson expressed concern over the Delta COVID-19 variant of the virus and low vaccination rates. Arkansas has seen an increase in hospital admissions by 30%."The Delta variant is of great concern to us. Hutchinson stated that the Delta variant is a concern because it has an impact on hospitalizations and cases. Hutchinson also pointed out that vaccine hesitancy was high in his state. He attributed it to conspiracy theories and the pause in Johnson & Johnson’s April one-shot regimen. Individuals simply not believing in its efficacy.The first discovery of the Delta variant in India was made in India. It has been confirmed in 49 states and Washington D.C. This variant can cause more severe diseases than other coronavirus strains and is more easily transmissible.Continue the storyPublic Health England reports that the Delta variant accounts for 99% in new COVID cases in the U.K. Gottlieb claims that the US is just a few months behind the U.K. when it comes to their experience with this variant."They are seeing more cases. They aren't moving at the same speed as in previous epidemics. We are also not seeing the same effect in the U.K.'s experience. They've seen about 90,000 cases and about 1,000 hospitalizations. Most of the cases are among unvaccinated people. Gottlieb stated that only 8% of those who have been fully vaccinated are hospitalized. So you now have a population with greater immunity. This is not only due to vaccination but also because of prior infections. It's not causing as much severe disease and death now as it did during the previous epidemic.Serena Williams pulls out of the Tokyo OlympicsSurfside building collapses lead to death at 9Increasing concern about "Rainbow Capitalism", during Pride Month
