The US won't impose widespread lockdowns again, despite spread of delta variant
America's top doctor on infectious diseases has said the country will not need to undergo another round of widespread lockdowns, despite the rise of the delta variant of COVID-19.
Speaking with ABC's "This Week" on Aug. 1, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the state of the pandemic will continue to deteriorate before it gets better, but believes the U.S. has vaccinated enough people to avoid a similar situation to last winter, when the spread of the virus was out of control and virtually all of the country was contending with some sort of lockdown measures, as reported by Reuters.
Related: What to know about the delta variant
Fauci said, "I don't think we're gonna see lockdowns. I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country -- not enough to crush the outbreak -- but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter. But things are going to get worse."
According to Reuters, cases of the delta variant have roughly doubled in the last 10 days, and it's primarily infected those who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19, though there has been a comparatively small number of "breakthrough cases" among vaccinated people.
Related: Some people avoiding travel due to delta variant
The rapid spread of the variant may end up being a setback for our still-recovering economy, potentially leading to a slowdown in the job market that's begun to pick up in recent months. However, the increasing prevalence of the variant has also led to an uptick in the rate of vaccination throughout the U.S. after it lagged for weeks following the peak rates we saw in the spring.
Related: Warnings about travel to Las Vegas
And while the U.S. is likely to avoid widespread lockdowns, several other nations -- including Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines -- have reimposed some restrictions in "hot spot" areas.
COVID-19 vaccines are available free of charge to anyone 12 years old and up in the United States.
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