It is very well known that obesity and the coronavirus are intimately connected — to the point where some fit people believe that they don’t need to be vaccinated. And to the point where social media pests go out of their way to express how little they care if a bunch of fat people die. A typical quote from an anonymous troll: “You’re all obese, no wonder COVID hit you hard. If you’re under 80 years and old and not morbidly obese, you did fine.”
It is no wonder that parents don’t want their kids to come down with COVID, and they don’t want to catch it themselves, because then they can’t take care of their children, or much of anything else.
It seems our old, familiar coronavirus was relatively slow on the uptake, compared with the Delta variant which seems to be doubling its numbers every couple of weeks. Delta has tailored itself into a juggernaut that plows through the population like a race car escaped from the track. It is so obnoxious, the U.S. President made a speech against it on June 18, noting that in some parts of the country, case numbers and hospitalizations are going up because…
It’s a variant that is more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier and particularly dangerous for young people.
Nevertheless, surveys reveal that about one in three American adults does not have vaccination on their to-do lists.
Transmission
When people are put into quarantine or asked to self-quarantine, the length of time is determined by the incubation period, or a number of days between the first infection and the manifestation of symptoms. We have become accustomed to the idea of a 14-day quarantine period, and the frightening fact that a person can transmit the novel coronavirus before they even feel sick. Sometimes, they never even feel sick.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Pamela Orr told a reporter that a person can be exposed to the Delta variant and become infectious within one day:
So the incubation period is completely flattened, and you can remain infectious for longer than 21 days.
Needless to say, the notion of a three-week isolation period is even less acceptable to the populace than the customary two-week period. There is still more bad news about transmission. Lab work done at London’s Imperial College causes scientists to suspect that Delta spreads through the human air passages with amazing ease.
This means, says virologist Wendy Barclay, that the victim is more likely to pass the virus along, and it may even imply that a shorter exposure period can do the job. Some experts have suspected all along that guideline numbers like five minutes or 15 minutes are nowhere near accurate, considering other variables that can influence the degree of infectiousness.
(To be continued…)
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Biden urges more Americans to get vaccinated but is silent on July 4 target,” WashingtonPost.com, 06/18/21
Source: “Doctors fear COVID delta variant, say Manitoba reopening plan ignores it,” CBC.ca, 06/18/21
Source: “Delta variant Q&A: are the symptoms different, and do vaccines protect against it?,”
Telegraph.co.uk, 06/18/21
Image by Public Health England/Open Government Licence v3.0
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