Infectious disease expert: Delta variant, unvaccinated leading to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases

ALLEGHENY COUNTY — In the last 72 hours, Allegheny County officials said 388 new COVID-19 cases were reported to the county Health Department.

Of these, 316 are confirmed cases and 72 are probable cases. Two new COVID-19 related deaths were also reported, including one from July and one from August. Both cases were over the age of 50.

Since March 14, 2020, there have been 104,430 cases of COVID-19 among Allegheny County residents, 7,359 hospitalizations and 2,010 deaths.

Infectious Disease Physician Dr. Amesh Adalja told Channel 11 he is not surprised by yet another report of high case numbers from over the weekend.

“Although Allegheny County has a high vaccination rate, it’s not high enough to keep the delta variant at bay,” Adalja said.

He said the variant is a major part of the problem. The other part is people who are not vaccinated.

“What we have in the U.S. is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. This is largely spreading through unvaccinated individuals. That’s where we are seeing the delta variant take hold,” Adalja said. “I suspect over the next couple of weeks, cases will probably continue to be at a high level, then peak and come down as the unvaccinated are increasingly infected and then unable to be re-infected in the short term.”

Adalja said he doesn’t think hospitals will be overrun like what we saw in the past because so many high risk people have been vaccinated.

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