The highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus has well and truly arrived in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tuesday that the variant—which was first identified in India but has since ripped through Europe—is now the dominant strain in the States. According to CNN, the variant has helped drive up the number of COVID cases in 24 states that have seen a surge of at least 10 percent in cases over the past week. Andy Slavitt, an ex-adviser to President Joe Biden’s COVID Response Team, told CNN: “We should think about the Delta variant as the 2020 version of COVID-19 on steroids... It’s twice as infectious. Fortunately, unlike 2020, we actually have a tool that stops the Delta variant in its tracks: It’s called vaccine.” Bloomberg News reported that Dow Futures were plummeting early Thursday as investors’ fears of a new wave of coronavirus infections grow.
