Dr. Robin’s Covid-19 Updates

Will Delta Be Your Death Warrant?

Not If You’re Vaccinated

Photo by Lesly Derksen on Unsplash

I’m a Boston-based cancer doctor and I’ve been writing weekly fact-based-no-blame-no-rumors-all-science-all-the-time essays about Covid-19 since March 2020.

You can read my views on ways to navigate our post-vaccine world here — or about unvaccinated kids here — or you can read about vaccines/anti-vaxxers throughout history here.

So what’s going on with the Delta variant?

I’ve talked about variants before, but let’s review the very basics of what a variant is. Viruses are famous for mutating into gajillions of different variants. The variants that become noticeable {“Variants of Concern” (VOC) which have graduated from being “Variants of Interest” (VOI)} usually come to our attention because they are more contagious, aka have “increased fitness” or are “more transmissible.”

Delta is the old Covid virus with some specific mutations that make it our current MCV (Most Contagious Virus). It is WILDLY contagious.

We don’t know exactly why it’s so contagious — maybe it takes fewer viruses in the nose of the unvaccinated barber to give it to the unvaccinated Uncle Maskless (who never listens to his Niece-the-Doctor); maybe the virus is more “sticky” in our nose than in our…