The delta variant is ravaging this Missouri city. Many residents are still wary of vaccines.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The worst of the pandemic seemed behind Mercy Hospital, those weeks last winter when the coronavirus wards were full of people struggling to breathe.

But after months of reprieve, the virus has come roaring back, sending unvaccinated young adults and middle-aged patients from across southwest Missouri there in droves as the highly transmissible delta variant tears through the region. The hospital has been treating more than 130 covid-19 patients each day since Sunday - more than the winter surge - and had to open a sixth ward. It came close to running out of ventilators earlier this month.

"We're just very disheartened. This was all pretty avoidable," said Wanda Brown, a nurse unit manager. "Last year, we were looking forward to the vaccine coming out because we really thought that that was going to be helpful for our community. We feel like we've taken giant leaps backward."

Springfield, a city of 170,000 nestled in the Ozarks, has become a cautionary tale for how the more transmissible delta variant, now estimated to account for half of all new cases nationwide, can ravage poorly vaccinated communities and return them to the darkest days of the pandemic.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/delta-variant-ravaging-missouri-city-172713900.html

[Crunchy Frog]

1. I honestly don't fucking care. Let them wallow around in their own shit.

If I was a medical worker there, I would have left the state by now.

[gratuitous]

2. And now the really bad news

As the Delta variant runs through Missouri, it stands a very good chance of evolving into the Epsilon variant, which will probably be more virulent, more easily transmissible, and more resistant to the vaccines. So thanks, Missouri. I was kind of happy about the relaxing of countermeasures, but those days may be ending quite soon.

Assholes.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. There's already an Epsilon variant.

Mutations Help This Coronavirus Variant Evade COVID-19 Vaccines: Study
COVID-19 Study: The finding, published in the journal Science on July 1, shows that the Epsilon variant "relies on an indirect and unusual neutralisation-escape strategy."

Washington: Three mutations in the spike protein of Epsilon variant of SARS-CoV-2 help the virus to evade the protection offered by current vaccines or past COVID-19 infection, according to a study.

The mutations also provide the variant of concern named CAL.20C a means to totally evade specific monoclonal or lab-made antibodies used in clinics, and reduce the effectiveness of antibodies from the plasma of vaccinated people, the researchers said.

The team, led by researchers at the University of Washington in the US, visualised the variant''s infection machinery to see what is different from the original configuration of the coronavirus, and what the implications of these changes are.

Snip...

https://www.ndtv.com/science/mutations-help-epsilon-coronavirus-variant-evade-vaccine-immunity-study-2481110

[gratuitous]

5. Swell

Sorry Missouri, you'll have to settle for being the birthplace of the Zeta variant.

[roamer65]

3. Nothingburger.

Anti-vaxxers deserve it.

[tanyev]

6. The vaccine would have been very helpful for your community.

If 60-70% of the population hadn’t refused it.