The Covid ‘Delta’ variant, which was first discovered in India, is 50 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant that originated in the UK. More than half of cases in the U.S. currently involve people who have been vaccinated against the new strain, experts say.

The CDC recommends that vaccinated people not get tested for COVID-19 unless they’re symptomatic. This could explain why states with high vaccination rates such as California, Illinois, New York and Washington are seeing a rise in cases of the disease. It could also mean that the true prevalence is much higher.

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‘We actually have states where hospitalizations are going up more than cases,’ Dr Christopher Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, told Insider.

The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, makes up 51.7 percent of all new infections. That’s up from the 26.1 percent of cases previously linked to the variant, meaning its prevalence has nearly doubled in two weeks.

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And there is a solid reason behind this as Los Angeles County is reporting an explosion of new cases of COVID-19. New York City – one of the country’s first epicenters – is seeing a similar situation unfold with 839 new infections over the last week. The Delta variant now makes up 54 percent of all samples that underwent genomic sequencing.

New York City cases of coronavirus Delta have risen by 29 percent in the last seven days. Vaccinated areas are also seeing spikes because coronaviruses restrictions have been lifted across the, health officials say. New York City has 63 percent of adults with at least one vaccine dose.

According to Dr Murray, although these increases are less dramatic than those seen in unvaccinated pockets of the country, vaccinated areas are also seeing spikes because coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.

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Transmission is going up ‘due to the Delta variant and the fact that everybody’s stopped wearing a mask and just basically stopped most precautions,’ Murray told Insider. 

He also referenced data from Scotland which showed that, although more than half of the country is fully vaccinated, cases have surged.

Since June 25, COVID-19 infections have jumped 84 percent from 1,747 cases to 3,216 recorded on Friday, according to data from the Scottish Government.

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‘That window of transmission probably goes down,’ he said.

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