Posted on 07/31/2021 11:08:48 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
Study of area cases says variant leads to ‘increased risk of transmission’
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study regarding the Provincetown COVID-19 outbreak published Friday provides new evidence that vaccinated people are vulnerable to the disease’s highly contagious delta variant.
A key finding in the report is that almost three-quarters of people infected in the Provincetown outbreak were fully vaccinated.
That and other data from the Provincetown outbreak provided evidence that pushed agency scientists to advise that vaccinated people across the country again wear masks in indoor public settings in certain circumstances.
“High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with delta can transmit the virus,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement sent to USA TODAY on Friday.
Provincetown has been a busy spot this summer, which contributed to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases in July. A U.S. Center for Disease Control study of the Provincetown cases concluded that 74% of people who were infected in the outbreak were fully vaccinated.
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“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to the CDC’s mask recommendation.” Health officials continue to reiterate the majority of COVID-19 transmission occurs among the unvaccinated, not fully vaccinated people. “Vaccinated individuals continue to represent a very small amount of transmission occurring around the country,” Walensky said. “We continue to estimate that the risk of breakthrough infection with symptoms upon exposure to the delta variant is reduced by sevenfold. The reduction is twentyfold for hospitalizations and death.”
What the Provincetown COVID-19 data showed
The CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report detailing the agency’s investigation of the Provincetown outbreak found that 469 Massachusetts residents were infected with COVID-19 after a number of large public gatherings that occurred there between July 3 and 17.
Of those Massachusetts residents infected, 74% were fully vaccinated.
Of the vaccinated people infected, 79% had symptoms including cough, headache, sore throat, muscle pain and fever.
Five people of the 469 people infected were hospitalized, four of whom were fully vaccinated, according to the report. Two of the fully vaccinated people hospitalized had underlying conditions, USA TODAY reported.
No deaths related to the outbreak have been reported.
Delta variant is to blame
The CDC sequenced samples taken from 133 patients and discovered 90% of those infections were caused by the delta variant, which carries 1,000 times the viral load than the original, or wild, COVID-19 virus.
One crucial finding of the CDC study was that vaccinated and unvaccinated people were found to carry similar levels of the virus in their bodies.
The delta variant was first identified in India and is known to be more transmissible than the wild virus, the state Department of Public Health said on previous occasions. Two factors, officials said, are that individuals infected with the delta variant tend to have more virus in their respiratory tract than other variants and infected individuals may carry the virus longer.
The Provincetown data show that the delta variant is highly transmissible, but authors of the CDC report stressed that vaccination remains the most important strategy to prevent severe illness and death.
On Tuesday, the CDC recommended that everyone — regardless of vaccination status — wear masks in indoor public settings in areas where COVID-19 transmission is high or substantial. Barnstable County is currently classified as an area of high transmission.
But findings from the Provincetown investigation suggest that even areas where transmission is not classified as high or substantial should consider expanding public health protections including masking indoors “given the potential risk of infection during attendance at large public gatherings that include travelers from many areas with differing levels of transmission,” authors of the CDC study wrote.
People involved in the cluster said they had attended densely packed indoor and outdoor events at venues including bars, restaurants, guest houses and rental homes, the report said.
On July 3, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health had reported a two-week average COVID- 19 incidence of zero cases per 100,000 people per day in Provincetown. By July 17, the two-week average incidence increased to 177 cases per 100,000 people per day in town, the report stated.
Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch who has studied vaccines and COVID-19, said the study is significant because it shows the importance of masking while the highly contagious delta variant is circulating.
A Tuesday notice from town and county officials amended what was a public health advisory in town to a public health mandate that requires indoor masking in local businesses.
The notice stated that COVID-19 testing is still being offered at the parking lot of the Veterans Memorial Community Center at 2 Mayflower St. in Provincetown. Testing has been extended through Friday, and is available between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily. Tests are free and appointments are not required.
Vaccines are also available at the site through Friday.
Gov. Charlie Baker encouraged people who have not yet been fully vaccinated to do so. “There are roughly 800 to 1,000 cases that have been identified as part of that (Provincetown) cluster, a very, very, very small number, a very small number, actually ended up getting very sick and being hospitalized,” he said Friday. “That’s because most of those folks were vaccinated and vaccines work.”
Provincetown is working with Barnstable County to procure and distribute 1,200 at-home COVID-19 tests to local businesses, residents and visitors.
Barnstable County Director of Health and Environment Sean O’Brien, who is listed in the acknowledgment section of the CDC report, said that the CDC’s study of the Provincetown data was made possible in part because of local contact tracing conducted by Public Health Nurse Deirdre Arvidson and other Barnstable County staff who provided data to the state DPH.
“Both Deirdre and (Deputy Human Services Director Vaira Harik) were on daily calls with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health going over data,” O’Brien said.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health did not return a request for comment on the findings.
No wonder average people are confused about the way to handle this outbreak. -Tom
Flu vaccinations are generally not effective against the preious year’s variant.
So a vaccine for Wuhan/Bat flu won’t be particularly effective against the India Flu or the Peru Flu.
Wadda you expect when you get a bunch of rump rangers together?
Vulnerability Equality is what it’s all about. The goal is to never remove the vulnerabilities but to merely shift them here and there to a greater or lesser degree with media dispensed propaganda aimed at this group or that group, to be at odds with that group or this group. Each group taking a turn on point as the leading vulnerability victim.
P.T. Barnum ain’t got nothing on these guys.
Better tittle: Vaccinated are Vulnerable AND Can Transmitt
Fact is that the human body sheds the majority of a virus load thru the waste tract. Not a very good idea to be poking about other folks waste tracks regardless of gender or gender identity.
I have heard from somewhere that Delta is extra contagious but extra mild, so it is spreading natural immunity. I have no sources to back this up.
No deaths related to the outbreak have been reported.
So basically, this is about as serious as one of those mosquito borne encephalitis alerts that happen every summer.
CDC: Vaccinated are vulnerable.
Cape Cod
NOW THEY TELL US???
P-town is a haven for “alternative” ..dykes/fags and are far more inclined to have close contact with MULTIPLE persons as opposed to a heterosexual with a moral compass. I was raised in the southeast part of Massachusetts and was on the Vinyard in the mid 60’s as a child and ran all over the beaches as a teen. Since the late 70’s the Cape Cod peninsula has been SO over developed that distancing of any kind is near impossible. It comes as no surprise to me that an easily spread virus would generate quickly especially in P-town. The ONLY time to visit the Cape is in mid to late September after all the tourists are gone and stay in Truro or Wellfleet as there is no need to go to P-town for ANYTHING! The National seashore has all you will need for you and your family see the side of Cape Cod that I grew up with . Go only when the tourists are gone and have beaches to yourself...bring your own food / pay off season rates and the air and water temperature are as close as they can (way better swimming.) Sorry to ramble but not all of the Freepers realize what Provincetown actually is about.....Alvin Lee wrote a song about them “I love to save the world” every where is ...dykes and fairies ...tell me where is sanity?....
Several churches in our area had their youth return from (different) youth retreats with a lot of COVID infections.
for the good of mankind and the majority of men women and children that have not received the jab they should always wear a mask 24/7s and social distance from anyone NOT wearing a face diaper .... It should be a Law!!!....For the sake of our children!...Huge fines for not complying...../s
Andrew Sullivan’s take:
I believe the vaccines are causing the variants.
With Sleepy Joe, I think it's more like "Plausible Deniability". Like everything else coming from the White House these past few months.
In the summer Ptown can be a madhouse, especially after 9 PM when most day tourists and diners have returned to their lodgings. Place like The Crown and Anchor can have 500 to 700 LBTGs dancing, drinking, smoking, and grinding till 5AM. And that’s just one club. Commercial Street is packed and it’s only 60ft wide. Put all that together and vaxx or no vaxx that’s a recipe for super spreader. And with all that only four are hospitalized and no deaths.
We’re familiar with the clinical, anecdotal, and editorial reports, but...
There is no macro statistical data showing vax success.
Variants.....Keeping us company since the dawn of man. Fauci just likes to have the newer variants go back even farther to the early dawn of bats.
The vaxx pushers are pissed. Some were so smug and proud to get the Fauci ouchi.
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