Delta variant slams 30-somethings; daily cases could hit 200K soon

• Hospitalizations for COVID-19 hit record highs for 30-somethings last week.
• Experts say the Delta variant is expected to cross 200,000 cases in the next couple of weeks.
• Hospitals are struggling to accommodate COVID-19 patients.

The Delta variant has skyrocketed daily case counts in the U.S. — and hospitalizations for patients in their 30s have hit a record high, according to reports.

The most dominant strain of COVID-19, which originated in India in late 2020, is now threatening to reach daily case counts of more than 200,000, according to the director of the National Institutes of Health.

“I will be surprised if we don’t cross 200,000 cases a day in the next couple of weeks, and that’s heartbreaking considering we never thought we would be back in that space again,” NIH director Francis Collins told Fox News on Sunday.

“That was January, February, that shouldn’t be August. But here we are with the Delta variant, which is so contagious, and this heartbreaking situation where 90 million people are still unvaccinated, who are sitting ducks for this virus, and that’s the mess we’re in.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the current seven-day moving average of daily news cases is currently 114,190, an increase of 18.4% compared with the previous week. It’s currently nearly 900% higher than the lowest value observed in mid-June.

The U.S. hasn’t averaged over 200,000 cases per day since January; now hospitals around the country are struggling to meet the demand for care.

“It’s not just the beds. Many hospitals can find beds in places like parking structures or cafeterias,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, told CNN. “But it’s qualified people to staff those beds. And the United States is critically short on ICU nurses, so finding the qualified staff to take care of critically ill patients becomes increasingly hard.”

30-somethings hit the hardest

Hospitalizations from COVID-19 hit a record high last week for people in their 30s, according to the Wall Street Journal. The uptake in hospitalizations is being attributed to 30-somethings not being vaccinated yet living an active life, which the Delta variant thrives on.

“It loves social mobility,” Dr. James Fiorica, chief medical officer of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in Florida, told the outlet about the Delta variant. “An unvaccinated 30-year-old can be a perfect carrier.”

Health experts continue to advocate for people to get the vaccines as many businesses around the country urge employees to get vaccinated or face the possibility of termination.

Just a little over half of the US population is currently fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Younger adults, in particular, are behind on the vaccination efforts as slightly less than half of adults ages 25 to 39 are fully vaccinated — compared with 61% of all adults, according to data.