A leaked Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document obtained by the Washington Post is quite a bombshell. The internal slide presentation focuses on the need for new messaging around COVID-19 now that the delta variant is surging in the US, and suggests that the variant is so contagious it's almost like an entirely new virus itself. Just how contagious? As much as chicken pox, the document states, spreading more easily than Ebola or the common cold. Perhaps most distressingly, it cites new research suggesting vaccinated people appear to spread delta just as easily as the unvaccinated. Details and related news:
- The research: The recently obtained and still unpublished research alarmed the agency enough that it has already revised its mask guidance. It comes from a number of outbreak studies and outside investigations, and finds that whether a person infected with delta is vaccinated or unvaccinated, their viral loads are similar. The data is expected to be published in full Friday.