Gottlieb said parts of the US might see “A very dense outbreak” as the delta variant spreads.

Washington — while the United States As the country continues to push through the COVID-19 pandemic, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Getleb said parts of the country could suffer from “Dense epidemic” with relevance Delta variable keep circulating

“It will be made into a hyper region. which will have some parts of the country [where] We can have very dense outbreaks,” Gottlieb said on “Face the Nation” Sunday.

The most vulnerable areas are still those with low vaccination rates and low immunity from previous infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Many southern states have slower vaccination rates than the national average.

“I think when you look across the United States, If you are a community with low vaccination rates And you still think you have low immunity from a previous infection. The virus therefore does not spread through the local population. those communities really There are risks,” he said. “So I think governors need to think about how they create healthcare resources in areas of the country where you have a lot of weakness.”

Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas The state with a 30% increase in hospitalizations has expressed concern about the COVID-1

“The delta variable is a serious concern for us. We see an impact on our growing number of patients and hospitalizations.” Hutchinson said on the topic “Face the Nation” The governor also noted that in his state there is a high hesitation in vaccination. which he came from conspiracy theories Disruption of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot regimen in April And people do not believe in the effectiveness of the virus.

The Delta variant, first discovered in India, is now found in 49 states and Washington, D.C. The variant is more contagious and may lead to more severe disease than other coronavirus strains.

in the UK The Delta variant currently accounts for 99% of new COVID-19 cases, according to Public Health England. Gottlieb said the United States was only a month or two behind the UK in terms of experience with the variant.

“They saw more cases. They certainly didn’t start at the same speed we’ve seen in past plagues. Another thing we are noticing about the UK experience right now is that it doesn’t have the same impact. So they had about 90,000 cases. They were hospitalized for about 1,000, most of them in the unvaccinated people. “Hospital patients,” Gottlieb said, “so you have situations where you have a more immune population. not just by vaccination but also to previous infections. Therefore, it does not have the same impact in terms of causing death and serious disease as during the last outbreak.”