Experts say the reopening of theme parks and other businesses puts unvaccinated people at higher risk of COVID-19 this summer. Experts are expressing concerns about the dangers unvaccinated people are taking, even with declining COVID-19 cases in the United States.
The concerns are heightened by the delta variant, which is more contagious and potentially more dangerous than other strains. Experts note that with more people getting vaccinated, the novel coronavirus isn’t circulating as much as it had been earlier in the pandemic.
The coronavirus keeps parts of the world on edge, while others nearly declare victory over COVID-19 and reopen businesses. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that the most populous state in the United States is open again for business. As he lifted most physical distancing and mask mandates. In doing so, Newsom announced the state was ditching its color-coded tiered reopening system. Along with, finished giving out $116 million in awards to Californians who received their vaccines. “California is open again,” Newsom said at the entrance of Universal Studios in Los Angeles while flanked by yellow pill-shaped minions and Optimus Prime. California’s reopening comes as 56 percent of its residents get complete vaccination against the novel coronavirus.
Risks for the unvaccinated
Nevertheless, California and other parts of the world aren’t in some protective bubble and remain vulnerable to the pandemic. The Washington Post found that cases of COVID-19 are rising in places where vaccination rates remain low and falling where more people are getting their shots.
While the available vaccines are proving to be highly effective at keeping people from developing severe cases of COVID-19. Therefore, practically all new infections in the United States that result in hospitalization are people who aren’t vaccinated.
Also, experts are keeping their eyes on the spread of virus mutations, such as the delta variant. Though, it has shown to be more contagious and produce more severe symptoms. That variant originated in India, where a wave of infections besieged the country last month.
While countries such as Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States boast of having more than half of their populations with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. India’s numbers remain below 20 percent.
The spread of the delta and other variants has experts concerned that unvaccinated people could pass on the more potent and dangerous versions of the virus in the coming months.
It is especially concerning because the current COVID-19 vaccines with emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration can be administered only to people 12 years old and older.
COVID-19 in the next three months if you are not vaccinated?
Dr David Cutler, a family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, says he’s not even sure that question deserves an answer. Because it evades the fundamental question: Why is anyone eligible not yet vaccinated?
“Furthermore, the question ignores the far more important question of whether getting COVID. It means getting mild or asymptomatic COVID versus getting severe or fatal COVID,” Cutler told Healthline. “And the question does not account for the many sources of individual variability and statistical uncertainty which might impact whether certain individuals get COVID.”
Cutler said that before vaccines were available. A person in the United States had a 1 in 10 chance of developing COVID-19 over a year. But those risks could change as precautions are relaxed.
“For most of the past year, there was a variable degree of masking, social distancing, and lockdown restrictions,” he said. “Now, society is opening up, which theoretically increases [an unvaccinated person’s] risk of infection.”
Even though vaccine supply has outpaced demand in the United States. Certain factors continue to increase the chance of non-vaccination people contracting the novel coronavirus and developing a severe case of COVID-19.
Cutler says this includes disadvantaged groups and people in lower socio-economic classes. However, who experience COVID-19 more often than wealthy white or Asian people.
“This may be due to their jobs, living conditions, or other social determinants of health,” he said. Also another reason may be inequities in healthcare. The 7-day rolling average of new cases of COVID-19 is lower in the United States than in the past year. So people’s chances of contacting someone with the coronavirus are lower.