TUCSON (KVOA) – Doctors fear this third wave of COVID-19 is only just beginning in our state.
“The intensive care units are sure to get full and the patients who fill the intensive care units are patients who are not vaccinated and patients who are often younger than the patients we have treated for the past year and a half,” Dr. Christian Moher at Escalera Health said.
Now the more contagious Delta variant is spreading across the country.
Dr. Sudha Nagalingam, an infectious disease specialist at El Rio Health, says although vaccinated people have a much lower chance of contracting the variant, they can still become infected, transmit the virus, and spread it.
“These people have the same viral load as someone who isn’t vaccinated,” said Dr. Nagalingam. “So you can spread it even if you are vaccinated if you have the Delta strain and that is the concern.”
More than half of eligible Arizona nationals have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
The Arizona Department of Health reported more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases on both Saturday and Sunday. More than 1,800 were reported on Monday.
Almost a year and a half after the first coronavirus case was found in Pima County, the latest case numbers suggest the pandemic is a long way from being under control.
“I think I’m still a bit stunned to be honest,” said Nagalingam. “It was a really tough 2020 last year, people lost their homes, their jobs, people couldn’t see their families for a year, so the vaccine felt like the golden ticket. We know this is such a deadly disease is it or refuse, sometimes I still struggle to focus on it. “
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