Delta Variant Found In 99% Of U.S. COVID-19 Cases: CDC

WASHINGTON, DC — The highly transmissible delta variant is responsible for nearly all new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's COVID Data Tracker, reporting sequencing data for the two-week period ending Sept. 11, notes that B.1.617.2 — or the delta variant — makes up 99.4 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the United States.

First found in India, the delta variant is responsible for surges there as well as in the United Kingdom. In three months, the delta variant went from being detected in a quarter of all new U.S. cases to near-total dominance, according to a New York Times report.

“It’s not unexpected, because it’s more transmissible, but it is also a strong reminder that we need to have continuous vigilance,” Dr. Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at George Mason University, told The Times.

The United States has seen a 7-day average of more 148,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, according to a Washington Post tracker.

As of Saturday, the United States had recorded more than 42 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. More than 673,000 people have died after contracting the virus.