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COVID cases increasing in NC; contagious Delta variant accounts for 30% of new cases

State health officials say the Delta strain has accounted for nearly 30% of coronavirus infections in recent weeks - and they expect that number to rise.

Posted Updated

By
Bryan Mims
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Health experts in North Carolina say getting vaccinated is critical to protecting yourself against the highly contagious Delta variant.

State health officials say the Delta strain has accounted for nearly 30% of coronavirus infections in recent weeks – and they expect that number to rise.

Since May, more than 99% of new COVID cases in the state are among those who are not fully vaccinated.

"The vaccine is protective against the coronavirus, including the Delta variant. That is one of the best tools we have, both individually and as a community, to protect and decrease community transmission in North Carolina," said Dr. Susan Kansagra with the state's Division of Public Health.

Right now, 53% of adults aged 18 and older are fully vaccinated in North Carolina, and 46% have had at least one dose.

Risk of Delta variant increasing as COVID cases begin growing once again

Health experts say those who have had only one dose are also at risk of infection from the Delta strain.

NC has had 630 new cases in the last 24 hours – the biggest single-day rise since early June.

That makes our average daily cases 41% higher than it was just two weeks ago on June 24.

Information from experts suggests this is likely at least partially due to the appearance and spread of the Delta variant.

The latest CDC data from seven southeastern states shows that 20% of the cases were caused by the Delta mutation, while about 50% are caused by the Alpha strain (the original). ​

What makes the Delta variant so contagious?

The virus is changing its spike protein, and the new spike protein binds to a cell even better than the original COVID-19.

Dr. David Montefiori, Director of the Laboratory for AIDS Vaccine Research and Development at Duke, believes the Delta variant will become more contagious over time.

"The virus is probably going to keep finding ways to become even fitter and more contagious, especially as more and more people get vaccinated and it's running out of new people to infect," he said. "It can also result in the virus evading those neutralizing antibodies that the vaccines are inducing."
When asked how concerned people should be about the Delta variant, he said as long as people are fully vaccinated, there's not much cause for concern.

"No, not really. The vaccines are working very well against this variant," he said.

But if you aren't vaccinated – he says you need to be extra careful, because the Delta variant is more contagious.

He expects vaccines to be approved for children sometime this summer.

"Get vaccinated. That's my message," he said.

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