7/7/21:
Politico (7/6, Lim, Banco) reports that new CDC data show the Delta COVID-19 variant “accounted for more than half of the coronavirus cases in the U.S. between June 20 and July 3.”
The agency “told POLITICO surveillance data indicated the Delta variant jumped from 30.4% of cases for the two-week period ending June 19 to 51.7% between June 20 and July 3,” and the increase “underscores the extent to which the Delta variant has spread throughout the country and raises questions about how the Biden administration plans to contain it at the national level.”
The Wall Street Journal (7/6, Wernau, Subscription Publication) says that while the CDC data show a substantial reduction in active cases, the Delta variant poses a sizable threat to unvaccinated Americans because it is 50% more transmissible than the Alpha variant.
7/8/21 update: Research “suggests that most vaccines still provide good protection against it. (Delta variant) – and remain highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.