Delta variant may double risk of hospitalization for the unvaccinated, study finds
CBSN
Los Angeles — A new study finds troubling news concerning the Delta variant and those unvaccinated against the coronavirus. This comes as new COVID infections in the U.S. average more than 150,000 per day, a 21% increase in the last 14 days.
COVID patients are overwhelming hospitals from coast to coast, driving a summer surge. The Delta variant — which is more contagious than the original "Alpha variant" that spread globally — more than doubles the risk of hospitalization for the unvaccinated, according to a U.K. study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Researchers studied more than 40,000 COVID cases between March and May – when the Delta variant took off in Britain – to compare the rates of hospitalization. The findings closely resembled preliminary data from a Scottish study that indicated the Delta variant caused more hospitalizations.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.