A virus is a living thing; you can expect it to adapt, to mutate. This has happened with many viruses mankind has had to deal with throughout the centuries and it is happening now with COVID-19.
The variant that is quickly becoming the cause of concern is the Delta variant, mainly because it’s not just more transmissible than the COVID-19 variant that first became widespread, but also because it is more lethal.
If nothing is done to slow it in its tracks it can become a force to be reckoned with soon.
First detected in India, the Delta variant has now spread throughout the world.
In the US where the situation was seen stabilizing just a few weeks ago, health officials are now starting to worry because the Delta variant is now so widespread it has become the dominant variant on the loose.
The Philippines has not been spared this new variant. In fact, the first local cases have already been detected here, many of them in Northern Mindanao.
While it is true that most, if not all, of the people detected with the Delta variant here have already recovered, we still have cause to be concerned.
A variant of COVID-19 can only be confirmed after much testing and after some time has passed. Even the most competent medical health worker cannot tell outright if a person suffering from COVID-19 has the Delta variant immediately upon admission and call for the appropriate action to be taken.
This means that there may be more people infected with the Delta variant out there than we know about. And they may be spreading it to others as you are reading this editorial.
With the looming threat of the Delta variant becoming widespread here comes the need to still practice the quarantine protocols we have been taught since the start of the lockdowns. And this is a cause for concern because those same quarantine protocols are something that many of us have forgotten, or blatantly choose to ignore.