A researcher at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute in Phoenix examines a slide. Screenshot via ASU Biodesign Institute | Vimeo
By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Although COVID-19 hospitalizations are down, genetic sequencing and a recent outbreak in Maricopa County has shown the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus is beginning to take hold in the Grand Canyon state, making up more than one in every five infections in June and accelerating rapidly.
Arizona was among the early leaders in vaccination rates, but efforts to inoculate the state’s residents has plateaued since May. Now, with Arizona lagging the nation in vaccinations, the state is currently averaging approximately 500 new cases of COVID-19 a day, several times greater than more populated states like New York and Massachusetts, which are averaging between 80 to 130 cases per day.
Among the cases of COVID that are appearing in the state is a new variant of the virus known as B.1.617.2, also known as the Delta variant, which is believed to have originated in India.
