64 cases of COVID-19 Delta variant identified in Illinois so far, as strain is added to CDC’s ‘variants of concern’

Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune
·2 min read

The Illinois Department of Public Health has identified 64 cases of the Delta variant, a COVID-19 strain first found in India that federal health officials have labeled a “variant of concern.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues the warning for variants that have evidence of an increased transmissibility or that cause a more severe disease, among other factors. Other common variants have been given the same label.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference Thursday that his main concern regarding the Delta variant is for children younger than 12, for whom a vaccine has yet to be authorized.

“The Delta variant seems to have been most predominant among people who are unvaccinated, and so those kids are who I’m focused on,” Pritzker said.

The good news for the wider population is that, “so far anyway, it appears that the available vaccines are resistant to the Delta variant,” he said.

The state’s health department has identified more than 9,400 variant cases of the virus in Illinois, more than 6,300 of which are the Alpha variant, first found in the United Kingdom. The next biggest slice comes from the Gamma variant, first identified in travelers from Brazil, with more than 2,400 cases.

Though identified cases of the Delta variant make up the smallest number of variants in Illinois so far, the CDC has estimated that it may account for about 10% of emerging COVID-19 infections in the United States.

Speaking to NPR on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged people to get vaccinated to help combat the spread of the Delta variant.

“If you are vaccinated, you’re going to be protected, which is another very good reason to encourage people strongly to get vaccinated,” Fauci told NPR’s “Morning Edition.” “If you are not vaccinated, you are at risk of getting infected with the virus that now spreads more rapidly and gives more serious disease.”